Because of the war in Syria I have lost a lot of relatives, countless friends I grew up with – remembering each name and honouring them in my fights is a huge motivation for me.

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In two weeks, I am going to be fighting after a huge explosion in my city that killed a lot of people I grew up with. Neighbours, friends, family members. There are a lot of scars that keep nagging on me to fight and help let this pain go.

Training is my only escape from the pain. It is the zone where I don’t think, I don’t feel, I just grind. 

That is why I have trained so much and pushed so hard during the training camps for my fights, because training is the only place where I don’t think about anything else. 

I don’t think about visa issues, losing family members, neighbours, friends, it is the only safe zone to protect myself from the pain and the fear of the unknown. Training was the wall I built to defend me from the noise this crazy world created. 

I switch off my emotions, switch off my brain and just grind. 

I am fighting on September 25 at UAE Warriors, but I just lost my cousin in Beirut’s explosion. It has hit me hard. He was more of a twin brother for me than a cousin. I grew up with him. My first word as a baby was his name. I became the man I am today because of him. 

He was my first fan, the first person in my family to tell me to never stop. I was not supposed to be fighting on this card but I asked the promotion, and I am thankful they have allowed me to honour the name of Aiman Suleiman. Life won’t be the same without him. 

I will see him again at some point, but for now I want to honour his name. 

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As a young swimmer I had to rub car oil on my body to try and keep warm.

I grew up in Syria, but by the age of 18, I had moved to Lebanon.

My upbringing was like most children with a focus on education, but with a strong interest in sport. At that time, I was a swimmer. My dad liked swimming and we lived near the sea. 

It was a little cold to swim – there was not a lot of infrastructure and no indoor pools. In the winter we would keep ourselves warm by rubbing car oil on our bodies. But it didn’t work so well and I kept getting sick so my parents told me to find another sport.

My friends in school told me to go and try boxing, I went along, and I was hooked. 

I never competed in boxing – I was ready to but just when the time was about to come my parents sent me to school in the UK so I missed my chance to compete.

When I came back, I spent a year in Syria and then went to University in Beirut to study agriculture and business administration, and it was here I started to pick up other sports. 

I was a little bit heavy when I moved there so I got into fitness, lifting weights, and bodybuilding. While in the gym, I saw a kickboxing class and thought I would give it a try. I got hooked again – but this time I started competing.

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I wanted to put MMA on the map in the Middle East, and inspire the next generation.

I had my first pro fight in Jordan in 2012  Desert Force – and was asked to be part of their new programme on MBC Action. I was so excited to be part of something so big and to introduce MMA to the region. 

My first fight ended up in a first round rear naked choke win – from there I knew I not only wanted it to be my career, but also I wanted to be someone to lead MMA in the region. 

During the war, I wanted to be a leader for kids who had lost everything. Their homes, their education, their dreams, and give them hope you can still achieve something big. 

I wanted to be someone who showed the Syrian people were still human. We reached a point when foreigners would hear about Syrians and automatically think we were terrorists. But, we are good people. 

People do not expect me to be like them, it hurts a lot, but I take it so I can be an example for my country.

I am the only Syrian fighter in the world, and my dream is to fight in the UFC. When I make it there, it is going to be huge. I will be an ambassador for the Syrian people to the world. It will be motivation for a young kid in a refugee camp who wants to leave that life, and go and chase whatever he wants to be. 

I wanted to be a fighter, but I want other people to do what they want. To follow their hopes and dreams, their passion – everyone is strong in themselves they just need to be determined and roll with the punches.