Mustapha Al-Turk has studied various martial arts since he was a child, but he isn't your average mixed martial artist. Yes, some of them have degrees...Al-Turk's is in pharmacology. Some of them have good grappling credentials...Al-Turk was an ADCC European Trials champion in 2005. Some have even held titles...Mustapha has held the Cage Rage British Heavyweight championship. What makes Al-Turk different is that he didn't get into the sport full-time for accolades or titles. He did because of one person: his old boss.

I've got a degree in Pharmacology and I was working for a pharmaceutical company. I put all my effort in my job and my manager was such a horrible person, such a nasty piece of work, that it just put me off it. I slowly veered towards the fighting. I worked so hard for that company, harder than anything I've ever done, and it wasn't working so I thought I'd try the fighting.

Al-Turk is also different than most fighters due to his heritage and his family life. You don't see many fighters in MMA with Saudi Arabian roots, or many with a doctor for a dad. MMA wasn't exactly what his family expected he would do for a living when he left his pharmaceutical job, but it was something he loved. He had trained in karate, chinese boxing, boxing, grappling, and muay thai at various stages of his life, and has been a member of the London Shootfighters club for almost 10 years.

He lost his first 2 pro fights (in 2002 and 2003) when he was still training part-time, due to what he perceived as a lack of confidence on his part:

I used to find it hard to win, I didn't have confidence because I didn't have my family behind me and I wasn't totally proud of myself and what I was doing. It wasn't accepted as a legitimate sport and I had to keep it hidden from my employer that I was fighting.

Since committing to training full-time, he has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments in grappling and MMA. As mentioned above, he won the ADCC European Trials in 2005, but lost his first round match at the World Championships to some guy named Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga. In MMA, he has gone 6-1 in Cage Rage, and picked up the Cage Rage British Heavyweight Championship along the line. He recently vacated that belt, due to getting signed by the UFC. He will face the toughest test of his career at UFC 92 when he takes on French kickboxer Cheick Guillaum Ouedraogo, better known as Cheick Kongo.

Al-Turk's style is primarily ground and pound, and he possesses above-average takedown ability and grappling. This makes for a good style matchup due to Kongo's below-average sprawl and ground game (although he has showed much improvement in this part of the game lately). Mustapha prefers to be a technician, and tries to avoid getting into standup brawls if it can be avoided. This is probably a good idea against Kongo, who hits extremely hard. Debuting on the main card of UFC 92 will be a huge test for Al-Turk, who has faced less-than-stellar competition so far in his career. A win over Kongo would instantly elevate him into contention in a semi-weak UFC heavyweight division. He will enter the fight as a large underdog, but the best part of MMA is that you never know what's going to happen in the cage. We'll see next month.

Al-Turk's quick win over what was once "The Smashing Machine", Mark Kerr:

His stoppage win over James McSweeney for the CR British Heavyweight title. McSweeney's style of staring at Al-Turk makes me laugh every time I watch this (actual fight starts at 3:07):



Stats:
Nickname: N/A
Record: 6-3
Promotions fought for: XFC, Cage Rage
Championships held: Cage Rage British Heavyweight Championship
Background: Boxing, submission grappling
Gym: London Shootfighters

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Posted by Tim Burke at 8:51 AM

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