Malaysia’s Agilan ‘Aligator’ Thani out to justify hero tag in One Championship showdown with Egypt’s Sherif Mohamed
Featherweight world championship title bout between Russia’s Marat Gafurov and Vietnamese-Australian Martin Nguyen headlines Friday’s Quest for Greatness event at Kuala Lumpur’s Stadium Negara
The last time Agilan Thani fought he lost, but the Malaysian still returned home a hero.
The 22-year-old Thani captured hearts across his homeland in facing up to unbeaten American sensation Ben Askren for the One Championship’s world welterweight title in Singapore in May, even though his title shot lasted all of two minutes and 20 seconds.
“Although I didn’t win, I’m still proud of being able to put Malaysian MMA on the map,” says Thani.
Malaysian government officials were quick to throw their support behind the fighter known as Aligator, hosting him at a formal reception and a post-fight press event in the nation’s capital of Kuala Lumpur that helped see Thani’s story splashed across media for days.
And it’s some story indeed as Thani has gone from a being a bullied and overweight teenager to dropping 60 kilograms and reinventing himself as a fighter good enough to attempt to become his country’s first MMA world champion.
