# Reshat Mati : Next MMA Superstar in the making?



## DrFunk (Mar 10, 2009)

What is the min age requirement to enter the UFC? I have a feeling this kid will be beastly when he grows up. A prodigy to rival BJ penn named Reshat Mati:






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbmbScZgZD8



> Twenty years ago, Adrian Mati was an ethnic Albanian who was living in Macedonia, which is not the Greek Macedonia whence came Alexander the Great, but a portion of what used to be called Yugoslavia. When what used to be Yugoslavia began coming apart in slices, the way it had been since the Iron Curtain fell in the late 1980s, and the nation that Josip Broz Tito had cobbled together after World War II had exploded in the ancient racial and tribal hatreds that only Tito's manifest gifts as an authoritarian had managed to keep under control, Macedonia achieved its independence peacefully, at least by the standards of that time and place. But Mati and other ethnic Albanians saw the potential for violence down the road. (Indeed, when the war in Kosovo erupted in the late 1990s, Albanian Kosovars fled the Serbs and took refuge over the border in Macedonia, seriously destabilizing the latter and threatening to draw Macedonia into the general conflict. Adrian had a brother wounded in the fighting.) Before that happened, Adrian, who had served in the Macedonian army, left his homeland and moved to Staten Island in New York.
> 
> He made a living teaching boxing, which he had been taught by his father, and also giving lessons in the various unarmed self-defense techniques that he had been taught during his days in the army. It became clear early on that Reshat was going to be his prize student. "I have three girls who are older than Reshat," Adrian says, "and one of them was interested in fighting, but then she became 12 and, you know, girly-girl took over." Reshat showed an aptitude not merely for boxing, but also for Muay Thai and for putting those disciplines together in what has become known as mixed martial arts.
> 
> Reshat trains preposterously hard — learning boxing at the gym on Staten Island and then kickboxing under a beetle-browed and ominous Uzbek in Brooklyn, working on both of them five days a week. Now, at 5-foot-2 and 131 pounds, Reshat is a world-champion kickboxer, a national boxing champion, a North American grappling champion, and an all-around jiu-jitsu champion. As he rose through the ranks, winning national championships in all disciplines and at all levels, Reshat even picked up a cool nickname. They call him The Albanian Bear.


Source: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8766486/reshat-mati-punch-baby

PS: Hmm the youtube link for the kid doesn't seem to work if a Mod could plz edit it thanks.


----------



## Hammerlock2.0 (Jun 17, 2009)

Fixed your link. All you have to do is put everything behind the "=" in between the tags.

Man, I hope this kid stays healthy. If so... see you in the octagon in 2018.


----------



## Fedornumber1! (Jun 18, 2008)

this kid is a beast already, if everything goes his way he'll be in the ufc when he turns 18


----------



## Sports_Nerd (Apr 23, 2012)

I've seen so many of these kids come and go over the years in other fields. You should have seen Ricky Rubio play basketball at his age.

I hope the kid develops into the pro that article evokes in our imaginations, but I won't hold my breath.


----------



## El Bresko (Mar 12, 2010)

Yeah Sports_Nerd, same with Grant Hill. He was supposed to be the man, then he injured himself


----------



## LL (Mar 12, 2011)

Sports_Nerd said:


> I've seen so many of these kids come and go over the years in other fields. You should have seen Ricky Rubio play basketball at his age.
> 
> I hope the kid develops into the pro that article evokes in our imaginations, but I won't hold my breath.


**** Ricky Rubio.


----------



## El Bresko (Mar 12, 2010)

TheLyotoLegion said:


> **** Ricky Rubio.


Rubio still has awesome potential, I see him developing into a Stocktonesque player.


----------



## LL (Mar 12, 2011)

El Bresko said:


> Rubio still has awesome potential, I see him developing into a Stocktonesque player.


Well he has Kevin Love, but that's about it. Certainly isn't Rondo by any stretch of the imagination.

On topic though, can this kid wrestle?


----------



## El Bresko (Mar 12, 2010)

imo these kids will do some damage, just have to hope they have good chins.


----------



## Voiceless (Nov 8, 2010)

The vid was already postet some time ago.



Sports_Nerd said:


> I've seen so many of these kids come and go over the years in other fields. You should have seen Ricky Rubio play basketball at his age.
> 
> I hope the kid develops into the pro that article evokes in our imaginations, but I won't hold my breath.


Yes, it's always nice to see young talents like them with such a dedication, but as I've written in the other thread, starting full contact competition and training at that intensity at this age unfortunately will probably take it's toll and they will have accumulated already a lot of damage, in particular to their joints, when they get to the age to become pros.



El Bresko said:


> imo these kids will do some damage, just have to hope they have good chins.


If the little one doesn't start to pivot his foot when throwing a roundhouse kick, he will probably have more problems with his knees at the age of 20 than Mauricio Rua has now.

But in overall I can see kids like those be the future of MMA. As MMA becomes more and more popular, more and more kids will start at a young age, some will be lucky to not have accumulated too much damage. And in contrast to most of todays fighters who only have one discipline as a background, all areas of fighting will be natural to them


----------



## RangerClydeTheBlue (Jul 11, 2012)

If he goes through puberty like I did then he's going nowhere


----------



## Roflcopter (Sep 5, 2008)

He's 13.

His accomplishments at his age mean shit.

I read this and was actually shocked there was some prospect that touted that I hadn't heard of, and then I read "13 years old" and now can stop caring.


----------



## Trix (Dec 15, 2009)

Fighting unskilled low level opposition for years and years will cause them to form a lot of bad habits. 

When they become adults they'll have accumulated a lot of bad tendencies and patterns they don't realize they have, and need to unlearn then relearn to fight all over again.

Its unlikely they'll live up to the expectations, I tend to think.

They don't have the maturity or intellect to really understand things at that age.


----------



## hellholming (Jun 13, 2009)

people change so much when going through puberty, so it's impossible to say where he'll end up.


----------



## Dtwizzy2k5 (Jul 7, 2008)

I put almost no stock in this article, there are countless 13 year olds who have done the vague things that this kid is doing. I didn't read a single prodigious thing about him, just that he's a "champion" (of what, exactly, isn't clear) of a few martial arts. 
I'm not trying to knock the kid, I wish him the best in whatever he does. I'm just saying, don't hold your breath remembering this name because odds are it won't be what the OP makes it out to be.


----------



## Dr Gonzo (May 27, 2010)

Give the kid a break dudes! Aslong as he continues with his interest in MMA he should be a beast when he's 18. Its scary and pretty f*cking exciting to see kids like this training MMA at such a young age. Good luck kid. Hope he continues with the hard work.


----------



## Sports_Nerd (Apr 23, 2012)

Tyson Fury said:


> Give the kid a break dudes! *Aslong as he continues with his interest in MMA he should be a beast when he's 18.* Its scary and pretty f*cking exciting to see kids like this training MMA at such a young age. Good luck kid. Hope he continues with the hard work.


That's exactly the point. He could continue working his tail off until he's 18 and still not amount to much. We don't know what his frame will be like, how athletic he will be, or whether his skills will have plateaued by then. And that's not even taking possible injuries into consideration.

It's simply too early to tell, too many variables.

This applies to child prodigies in just about any sport, btw.


----------



## Dr Gonzo (May 27, 2010)

Sports_Nerd said:


> That's exactly the point. He could continue working his tail off until he's 18 and still not amount to much. We don't know what his frame will be like, how athletic he will be, or whether his skills will have plateaued by then. And that's not even taking possible injuries into consideration.
> 
> It's simply too early to tell, too many variables.
> 
> This applies to child prodigies in just about any sport, btw.


I see your point but saying his skills might plateau by 18 is a bit harsh. I don't know about too many sports aside from football (soccer), MMA and a few other combat sports. In football, big teams sign up players before they are even teenagers and they usually turn out awesome. I can't speak for any American sports. Of course there are alot of variables and I'm not saying people should start worshipping this dude as the next Anderson or any dumb shit like that. 

I just think theres a fine line between negativity and being realistic. Some of the comments about this kid seem to be floating between the two. 

Some people say that theres alot of kids at this age who have accomplished the same or similar things. Doesn't sound like it if you listen to his coach. Pretty much world champ at everything it seems. 

That being said I do understand your point. From the ages of 13-16 is when we'll really see whats going on with this kid. Its all about development. If he trains with the right coaches, right team and has the right people around him he should be OK. As far as injuries go, if he has the right people around him it should reduce the risk of getting injured. Nobody is going to push a young kid to the point of getting injured and it sure doesn't look like another fighter is going to hurt him at this point. Needs to move out of NY though. The only thing that worried me slightly was he said he wants to do boxing and MMA? Needs to choose one. MMA preferably. Of course he's only 13 so I guess he's got a some time to choose.


----------



## RangerClydeTheBlue (Jul 11, 2012)

Trix said:


> Fighting unskilled low level opposition for years and years will cause them to form a lot of bad habits.
> 
> When they become adults they'll have accumulated a lot of bad tendencies and patterns they don't realize they have, and need to unlearn then relearn to fight all over again.
> 
> ...


But as he ages, he will fight better compitition continously. When he's 14, he'll fight the best 14 year old boxers in the world. 15, the same. When he's 17, he'll be brought to weight classes or whatever. As long as he's on top and beating everybody, he can't have a downside for the time being.

But I agree, 13 is really early, but that JJ, boxing and kickboxing experince would be insane if he done wreslting in college.


----------



## Roflcopter (Sep 5, 2008)

First of all, there's a difference between teens playing professionally and a kid beating up on other kids.

And it's not like those teenage soccer wonders are always that great either, look at that Freddy Adu kid that had his little 15 minutes of fame when he got signed at 14.

He's barely noteworthy.


----------



## Leakler (Sep 23, 2010)

It's amazing how currently we are seeing the rise of the 'complete martial artist' these days. Imagine what the UFC is going to be like in ten years time, with kids like this hitting the big time. Insane!


----------

