In the male-dominated world of MMA fighting, one Jordanian woman is on her way to the top. ALIX NORMAN finds out what drives this ‘Fierce Savage’
She’s called ‘The Fierce Savage’ for a reason. In the ring, she’s a demon: lightning-fast in her punches, strikes and kicks. Most of her opponents don’t seem to know what has – quite literally – hit them. Yet out of the spotlight, she’s entirely different: eloquent and soft-spoken, gracious and patient; still energetic but without an ounce of ferocity. But then that’s Lina Fayyad all over: a woman who, almost since birth, has been confounding expectations.
Currently here in Cyprus to train MMA hopefuls, Lina is the queen of her world: fearless in her pursuit of her goal of becoming MMA World Champion. And if attitude and experience are anything to go by, she’ll get there; over the past two decades, she has immersed herself in every possible martial art, learning everything from taekwondo to kung fu, jujutsu, and sanda.
Hers is quite a story. And it explains how a young lady from a society that, she freely admits, “expects its women to stay home” has become one of the world’s top professional MMA fighters. “My father was a boxer,” explains Lina. “I looked up to him immensely, saw how much it motivated him. And so I kind of followed him into the ring.”
Lina began her journey at the age of 12, first with boxing, later moving into other martial arts. “I was very health-conscious,” she recalls. “And I also wanted to learn self-defence. My parents, seeing how much this boosted my confidence, encouraged me in my passion. My friends, on the other hand, thought I was crazy! But they nevertheless supported me, and were the first to come to my fights.”
In a society where “women are expected to stay home, get married and have kids – and a lot of other things that I prefer not to go into,” says Lina with a grimace, she was always the odd one out. “When I first started, there were really no Jordanian MMA fighters, so I wasn’t always welcomed. I was even kicked out of the gym a few times, and things did sometimes get awkward: some of the guys didn’t take me seriously. And I felt I had to work extra hard to prove how serious I was about becoming a professional MMA fighter…”
Work, she did. “To be honest, all that rejection and criticism just made me more determined – determined to prove I could compete not just with other women, but with men. It just gave me an important life lesson at a younger age,” she adds. “Life is tough. And there’s no such thing as luck. We just have to work really hard for what we want.”
Lina suggests that, to become an MMA fighter, one must be “patient, brave, a critical-thinker, and stubborn, as well as a hard worker with a powerful mind. In the weeks and days leading up to a fight, my coaches and I watch videos of my upcoming opponent, develop a detailed fight strategy, and put together a weight-cutting plan – possibly the hardest bit of the whole thing,” she says with a wry smile. “Then, on the day of the fight, I’m usually extremely excited and stressed. But when the lights come on, my music blares out, and the crowd starts to roar I come alive!”
Once in the ring, she continues, there’s no emotion. “My opponent becomes merely an obstacle to overcome. I stick to the game plan, I’m utterly focused, and the moment step into the ring, I switch to savage mode: aggressive, fearless, blocking all feeling.”
Many of the women Lina has fought – and beaten – have become close friends. “Part of MMA is a respect for one’s opponent,” she explains. “This isn’t a sport that’s purely physical. Yes, training involves strength and conditioning, striking and grappling. But that’s just scratching the surface: dig deeper, and you’ll find that martial arts are a great tool for a powerful mind; meditation is a vital aspect of my training, because MMA requires exponents to be mindful, self-aware.”
Lina admits that she draws her power from her parents, siblings and friends, her numerous fans worldwide, and from her desire to prove that women can achieve their dreams. “And also from the many girls of varying ages and backgrounds who reach out to me: sending me pictures and videos; telling me I’ve influenced them…”
Being a woman in the male-dominated world of professional MMA was never going to be easy, she acknowledges. But there has been a huge amount of support along the way, not least from the team with whom Lina trains, the Gladiators. “They’re an all-male team trained by excellent coaches: Ali Al Ta’amari, Taymour Narmouq, and Mohammad Abu Khadija. And amongst the members, there are world champions, Arab champions and rising talents. And I, I proudly train with them,” she affirms.
When she’s not busy training, fighting, and winning, Lina is often teaching. She’s been in Cyprus for over a month now running ‘The Savage Camp’ sessions at the En Somati gym in Nicosia. “There’s huge potential here on the island,” she enthuses, “and I’ve been training people of all ages and levels of experience: everyone from professional athletes need a bit of strength and conditioning, to people who are in it purely for the weight loss.”
Like Lina, these trainees are learning “to challenge their limits and minds, discovering how to activate their inner power, and practising intensive exercises that include a mix of strength and conditioning, boxing and kickboxing. I refer to it as ‘Savage Training’,” Lina smiles. “Because, at the end of the day, that’s what I am: The Fierce Savage. And one day soon, I’ll be the World Champion Fierce Savage!”
For more information, visit the Instagram account @lina_linze_fayyad
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