One of Malik's big goals is to take the UFC to Pakistan. My biggest inspiration are these two and how they approach defining themselves as a human being, the way they carry themselves - in the cage and outside." Being a British-Pakistani Muslim Faisal Malik prays before a fight "In MMA it's George St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov," he says. He did inspire me."įaisal also grew up watching former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, but it is the two men painted behind him as he sits in his gym that give inspiration now. "He was a champion so I always grew up hearing stories. "That's always been a motivation and I still believe that it's genetics. "He was wrestling back in Pakistan, in Kashmir," says Malik. Having a good role model helps too - Malik's grandfather enjoyed notable success in combat sports. My whole life is dedicated to MMA because this is not a joke." So I went, tapped out millions of times and I was like 'damn, I need to learn this.' "My brother found a place and so did my friends. "I was Googling places to learn," he says. "My older brother and a couple of friends were like 'why are you wasting time on the road when you can channel that energy into a sport?'" he says. It was also a period of his life when he could have got into trouble - until he discovered MMA. "Pretty much from 16-19 I didn't concede a point." Who are you? You can't be doing this'," he says. He developed a fearsome reputation and says he was so prolific in tournaments that coaches of other fighters would wait outside for him.
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Malik trained in boxing until he was 15, and started to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at 16. I'm looking to keep that going." Where did it all begin? Since I went pro, I've finished all my fights in one minute. "I'm ready to jump into Cage Warriors and show what I'm made of. "It's a step up, but it's a step up that I wanted for quite a while. "It's clearly the path I want to take," he tells BBC Sport.
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Once overweight and caught up with the wrong crowd, he is a rising star waiting for his first Cage Warriors fight - but is already confident of adding his name to the list of more than 100 fighters to have progressed from the promotion into the UFC.