How Muhammad Aiman Became A More Dangerous ONE Championship Competitor

“The Jungle Cat” Muhammad Aiman returns to action on 8 September looking to score a statement win over an undefeated rising star of ONE Championship.

Muhammad is slated to face unbeaten Chinese star “Rock Man” Chen Lei at ONE: BEYOND THE HORIZON in Shanghai, China in a bantamweight battle that could propel the winner quickly towards World Championship contention.

The 23-year-old Malaysian’s recent form should give him plenty of confidence ahead of this pivotal match-up.

After taking time away to recuperate and improve after his defeat to Danny Kingad last April, he was desperate to jump back into the mix and put things right.

He got his wish as he accepted a short-notice bout with “Peter Pan” Yang Fei at ONE: IMMORTAL PURSUIT last November.

“I fought in April, and then I took a long break,” he says.

“Then on two weeks notice, I got that fight [with Yang]. I was trying to find a government sponsorship in Malaysia, and then I got it right before that fight, so everything just fell into place.”

Muhammad’s loss to Kingad came in large part as a result of his inability to stop his shorter opponent from taking him to the mat and dominating on the ground, but “The Jungle Cat” learned from that experience.

He worked hard on improving his game with his team at Bali MMA and refused to let the same fate befall him against Yang.

“I got taken down [by Kingad], so I was trying to figure out how to deal with the takedown and deal with shorter guys,” Muhammad recalls.

“I saw it, but I was too late – I had already lost the fight. That night, I saw it, and I figured out how to fight shorter guys. Fighting Yang was a chance for me to test myself again, and against a really similar opponent, too.

“When I was fighting a shorter guy again, I was wondering if I would know how to beat him, so having that fight was really important to push my confidence. I wanted to show I can fight anybody, and still do great.”

Though Yang was successful in being able to take Muhammad to the mat, he was not able to keep him there, as the Malaysian athlete did well to get back to his feet quickly each time.

And with the bout in the stand-up, Muhammad used his best weapon – his striking – to score significantly en route to a unanimous decision victory.

“It was a relief. I just needed to keep doing what I was doing, so it was a very satisfying moment,” he admits.

“After I won, I went up to Gianni Subba and told him it felt really good to win again.”

Muhammad followed up the unanimous decision win over Yang with another, against Cambodia’s Rin Saroth, sending him into ONE: BEYOND THE HORIZON on a two-bout win streak.

He will look to complete a hat-trick of wins and take a giant leap forward in the bantamweight division when he faces Chen Lei on 8 September.