HIDE YOUR NECK! Featuring: Fouzein "The Underdog"

Jan 25, 2016
4 min read

It's Hide Your Neck Part 3! For this session, I caught up with Southern Malaysian MMA hero Mohd "The Underdog" Fouzein. I know! It's two dogs catching up! Fun times indeed. Anyways, The Underdog represents Monarchy MMA and his own Malacca MMA club. He is also a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Team Buda Jiu Jitsu. Having fought in Bantam, Fly and finally ending up in the Strawweight division, this dog has seen some action across Malaysia and the Asian region. So hide your neck guys, this dog is out to getcha!

photo taken by Zamri Hassan @ Ultimate Beatdown 16 Johor Bahru, Malaysia

After an exchange of laughs, The Underdog told me about how 2015 was a pretty dope year for him. Two silver medals in the bag for two different martial arts! One medal from the Asian Open (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) and the other was scored at Piala Tinju (Boxing). His progression has always left me with a feeling of admiration, being one of the busiest fighters in Malaysia, Fouzein would tell me about his humble beginnings and his struggles and how he got started in all this punching, kicking and rolling on the ground fighting kinda business.

The Underdog's win at Asian Open 2015

"I loved martial arts since I was a kid, when I was in high school, my first exposure to martial arts was Tae-Kwon-Do. After completing high school, I delved into boxing and enjoyed it before developments both personal and career related required more of my time"

When he told me about this, I could relate to the struggle, MMA being relatively unknown at the time (back in 2010), little did he know that there was something brewing in Kuala Lumpur. On October 15th 2011, he had his first taste of MMA at the Malaysian Fighting Championship (MFC). His opponent was Kenny Yap (former Malaysian Invasion Season One Champion), who at the time was equally just as unknown. It was a new world order for The Underdog. The moment he stepped into the cage, his world changed right under his feet. He would go on to reflect;

"Wanting to try something new, I signed up for MFC and got smashed badly. I got hooked onto it and I have never looked back since. I paved my way towards improving myself and every fight from then on was a host of local MMA fighters, coaches and promoters exchanging information with me to improve the gaps in my game and improving on bridging those gaps."

Since MMA was relatively not a sport back then, armed with dedication, a seasoned pair of gloves, a single punching bag, the internet and a super handy site called YouTube, The Underdog like any other scrappy dog would drill what he learned on an improvised mat (a carpet placed on his lawn in the front of his house) and many blisters later fine tuned his skills with what little knowledge he had.

Th Underdog takes on Zeus in February 2012

A challenge he mentioned was the fact that no one knew what MMA was ;

"Back then, no one knew what MMA was and those who did didn't understand the sport aspect of it, the comparison between traditional and old kept popping up and I had trouble putting it all together mainly due to a lack of insight both from myself and others around me at the time"

So as we spoke more, he would begin to tell me the craziest fight and his proudest moment, answering the call to fight in under 24 hours notice for ONE Championship.

"I got a call from ONE telling me that, in 24 hours I had to fight as a replacement for an injured fighter, I didn't train nor had any camp prior to the fight but I accepted it and fought Thahn Vu. I lost but I proved a point that I don't back down from any fight"

In terms of current developments, Fouzein will be competing for the Strawweight title in Ultimate Beatdown in March and I am very interested to see how that pans out. The air of confidence in his words outwardly show how motivated he is to win.

This scrappy dog in my opinion, has always been stubborn till the end. Not in the usual sense though. He's got that never back down balls as big as you head kinda stubborn! He is an element of surprise. One who can make you a believer and before you know it, his hand is raised and he goes dog shit insane as he celebrates the win - in a way some think, is crazy and over the top but in my opinion, is just the right amount of scrappy in The Underdog. He never backs down. He brings war to the cage. He upsets the cage. He is The Underdog!

"Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain,"

Funny how every time I see this guy he has a goofy ass smile on his face and the energy of a 12 year old kid hopped up on energy drinks and way too much bad advice. Jokes aside, he closed with words of thanks to those who have helped him along the way

"Shout out to Monarchy MMA for their faith in me representing them and helping me improve tremendously. My coach at Sharks Muay Thai who developed my striking from scratch building me up to who I am today. My SnC coach at Panda Freestyle Gym who develop me ..and i am no longer a scrawny fighter. Hang tuah cafe who just joined in to support me and my gym's 2nd branch. All of my students who helped me improve myself being my sparring and rooling partners. All family, fans and friends who supports me with their donations."