Through Martial Arts, Muhammad Aiman Overcame Bullying And Adversity

“Jungle Cat” Muhammad Aiman never went looking for conflict, but conflict always seemed to find him.

For the bulk of his life, he grew up in various Malaysian cities, but at 15 years of age, his family relocated back to his birth state of Negeri Sembilan. That change, unintentionally, put a target on the young man’s back that stayed with him through high school.

“I was the city kid that moved to a village,” the 22-year-old recalls. “People hated city kids, so they always tried to bully me. I did not like that. I had a fight almost every month.”

Fortunately, or unfortunately, for the young teen, those after school scraps never caught the attention of adults. To all but his peers, Aiman’s tales of high school hand-to-hand combat never happened. He does not go into much detail about wins and losses, but it is safe to assume he got the better of most of his opponents.

“I never told my mom, either,” he reveals. “Every Alpha at the school wanted to fight me.”

A lot of martial artists are drawn to training either to get in shape or learn to defend themselves. Aiman is a lone exception. At 16, he took up boxing entirely for recreation. He insists competing was never a motivation.

Two years later, the teenage “Jungle Cat” grew restless with boxing, so he set his sights on something more versatile: the cage. However, just like high school, he ran into another obstacle. This time, the opposition was much closer to home than the village kids who wanted to cause trouble.

“[My parents] are really supportive now,” he begins. “In the beginning, not so much. Especially my mom. She wanted me to continue studying and do everything that normal teenagers do.”

The skepticism of his mother is understandable. It is fairly typical for parents to wonder how their children will do the simple things, like put food on the table and keep the lights on. It took Aiman training consistently and trying his hand at college to win over his mother.

“I did not even finish the first semester. I realized I could not do this for two and a half years. I did not want to waste any money, so I quit,” he says. “Now [my mother is] supportive. She is like my manager, for free.”

Aiman’s mother has plenty of reasons to be proud of her son. After a string of amateur bouts, culminating with him winning the MIMMA Featherweight Championship, the “Jungle Cat” turned professional and stepped into the sport’s major leagues in September of 2016 – ONE Championship.

Now, training at Bali MMA and spending most of his time in Indonesia, Aiman has capitalized on his golden opportunity with ONE. He edged out fellow countrymen Hisyam Samsudin via unanimous decision, and followed that up with an impressive TKO of black belt BJJ champion Eduard Novaes in February 2017. However, he then hit a stumbling block, falling to Team Lakay’s Danny Kingad via unanimous decision in a thrilling three-round battle two months later.

Since that difficult loss, “Jungle Cat” has been helping his other teammates prepare for their matches, and has improved in several areas as a result. He is looking to show that improvement on Friday, 24 November, as he clashes with promotional newcomer “Peter Pan” Yang Fei (14-4) at ONE: IMMORTAL PURSUIT in Singapore.

Aiman took the bout on just two weeks’ notice, but that should not be an issue for this predator. Like “Jungle Cat” says, “I am always up to the challenge if I am feeling good and I am not hurt.”

Perhaps making this bout even more challenging is the fact that he has seen very little with regard to his Chinese opponent. But that does not matter, either.

The Bali-based Malaysian never had any videos to study when he was a high schooler defending himself against the village bullies. He always trusted in his own skills, and will do so again when he welcomes Yang to ONE.

“Honestly, I do not focus too much on my opponent. I focus more on myself. I know a little bit here and there about him, but at the end of the day, it is a match,” he says. “I look forward to delivering a great performance, and I am really looking forward to finishing him.