He stepped into the world of MMA with just two weeks of preparation.
Then, in the first fifty seconds of the bout, Karam “Gaber” Ibrahim displayed his incredible athletic ability. Pushing around Japan’s “Missing Link” Kazuyuki Fujita like a little boy. Chasing him tackling and punching him to the corner.

Ibrahim stood up and traded strikes against Fujita who is known for having one of the hardest heads in the business. Photography by Seiji Yano

Anyone who has seen Ibrahim competing in Greco-roman wrestling knows that this guy is a gem. The way he dominated in the Athens Olympics, flipping around an opponent like a big piece of wood, and celebrating with a summersault after the bout like a character in “The Matrix” we all realized that this man could be a force in the MMA world.
But Fujita saw one flaw in Ibrahim’s offensive attack. His head-movements. When Ibrahim steps in for strikes, his chin tends to go up a little, so Fujita went for the counter shot. It was more like a swinging hook so the fist to wrist portion of Fujita’s right hand nailed the left of Ibrahim’s chin toward the side of his head, and this was just as Ibrahim came forward with a left low kick. As his chin was up. Then, instantly, Ibrahim was down.
Fujita chased him with two hammer shots to the face but by then, Ibrahim was completely gone. Laying on the canvass, his right leg trembling.
After the fight, Fujita said, ”Today just happened to be my day but it doesn’t mean I am better. He is an Olympic champion and I didn’t even make it to the Olympic team. I still think he is a great athlete” expressing his highest respect for his opponent. On the other hand, the media at “K-1 Premium: Dynamite!!” didn’t get to hear much from Ibrahim afterwards. Only rumors circulated. “I heard he doesn’t want to do MMA anymore.” “I think he feels embarrassed” “He is already thinking of revenge” etc.

Just 7 days after the Fujita fight, Ibrahim seemed calm already focused on his next goal. Photography by Minori Yoshida

7 days later……
Karam Ibrahim was in The Big Apple starring in a promotion video campaigning for hosting the Olympic Games in New York City. With a little swell just below his left eye, he was smiling in front of the camera.
“I like this city because there is so much here, different cultures, people.”
Yes I know you are very intelligent and I don’t mean to be rude here but MMA fans out there don’t really care if New York is the place you first tried sushi or not. They only want to know one thing. Are you going to continue competing in MMA?
We needed to hear his real voice so we waited around till this big campaign production was over and then finally I got to ask Ibrahim the question.
A couple weeks after the Fujita fight, how do you feel now?
Ibrahim smiled and shook his head slowly, “Not good at all.”
And of course, I had to ask this question. Why MMA now? You are the first wrestling gold medal winner out of Egypt in seventy six years and you are shooting for a second consecutive gold in Peking so why MMA now? Ibrahim replied immediately, “Because I like the game. I always fought in the street so I like the fight.” His answer was an instinctive one. Ibrahim likes to fight but he also has this imperturbation to see MMA as “the game.”

“UFC, K-1, PRIDE. I was always interested in it because my friend (Ali Abdelaziz) does ultimate fighting so I knew about it.”
Apparently, this Olympic gold medal winner was well aware of MMA way before the world of MMA showed an interest in him because Ibrahim said that “only after the Olympics” the real offers from MMA started to knock on his door. Till then, after he won a world championship in 2002, the only concrete professional offer he received was the one from WWE but he never accepted because “I don’t like it. It’s not a real competition. Its’ not a fight.”

Everyone in Japan, perhaps the world, was waiting for this man. The current Olympic champion stepping into the world of MMA! Photography by Seiji Yano

Karam Ibrahim was born in Alexandria, Egypt. Not exactly a country known for being a powerhouse of amateur wrestling. So what is the secret behind the enormous success of Ibrahim besides his natural physical ability? He started wrestling at the age of seven under the guidance of his borhter / trainer Adel Ibrahim and in 1995 when he was 16 years old he was spotted by Yehia Kazarian, then the head coach of the Egyptian wrestling team, and he thus became a member of the national team. That’s right. He got to experience the world earlier than other teenage wrestlers. He traveled all over the world entering various wrestling tournaments, initiated, and seasoned by fine coaches around the globe. Once he reached his 20’s, he quickly achieved the status of world champion and went on to become an Olympic champion. He basically didn’t need to prove anything else. So what is the motivation behind trying something completely new? Ibrahim’s answer was simple. “I just want to show that I am a good fighter.”

Then I wondered. Even with his incredible ability, was two weeks of preparation enough for competing in a completely new environment under a set of rules he had never experienced before? Did you, at least, get to see any Fujita fights so you could study the opponent? Ibrahim smiled and told me, “I only watched one Fujita fight but you know, I learn more from experience not from watching.” Of course, you learn more from doing it than watching or reading about it but a man of your status usually considers something called “the risk factors.” Ibrahim, however, continued, “Any fight is a good fight for me. You know why? Because I got a lot of experiences and even if I loose, then I learn more from it.”

No one doubts this man's physical ability. All he needs now is experiences in MMA. His brother, Adel Ibrahim (left) has been a trainer and the biggest supporter of Karam Ibrahim since the beginning of his career. Photography by Minori Yoshida

Apparently, this man is a pure athlete and a dedicated student of fight sports. He is not afraid of loosing or perhaps a thought of loosing just doesn’t even cross his mind. He was also telling me about how he “always fought with his shoes on” so I asked him about the danger of getting caught in an ankle hold or other leg submissions but Ibrahim replied, “I am not worried. It’s OK” Maybe it’s not that he doesn’t think about loosing but he has this confidence or he may even actually senses his gifted ability. But he also seems to know what he needs to do in order for him to do well in MMA. He mentioned, “I want to improve my boxing technique and I want to gain more Jiu-jitsu technique.” Ibrahim also revealed that he already asked K-1 for a rematch against Fujita in six months. That’s right, he already began walking on the road to the revenge. He even mentioned a possible fight in March, of course, at the K-1 venue. He just seemed very anxious.

He is continuing his career in MMA, which means he may well become the first athlete to win a top crown in both professional MMA and the Olympics at the same time. Ibrahim however denied this possibility, “I would like to stop fighting (in MMA) one year before (2008 Peking Games). I need to concentrate. There is a specific work out for Olympic wrestling. I can’t think about another thing.”
He is not thinking anything fancy. Karam Ibrahim just wants to prove his ability. And he knows that the first step has got to be settling the score with Fujita. That means, for Ibrahim fans, that the stage is now set for the great come back.

Karam Ibrahim with his brother Adel Ibrahim (center) and Ali Abdelaziz (left). Photography by Minori Yoshida