Ali Kocak – Weathering The Storm
This past week Storm Damage crowned it’s maiden Welterweight champion in style. Ali Kocak entered the eight man eliminator as a heavy favourite and walked out with the belt around his waist. Although the eliminator didn’t exactly go to plan and there were a few setbacks, it finished up exactly how Ali had anticipated; A belt around his waist and some more experience inside the cage.
At just twenty-three years of age it would be easy to say that the best is yet to come for Kocak. However, his abilities inside the cage aren’t just something that came to him naturally. Kocak picked up everything he has learnt through his dedication to training with the best people that he can train with. “When I was about 20 I started to get into cage fighting and I thought it was something that I could be good at. I saved up some money and I decided to go over to American to train with the best. It was great. I went in and trained for like a month at American Top Team and I learnt so much.” That dedication to perfecting his craft seems to have paid off with the twenty-three year old now looking to where he can go next to get better inside the cage. “I have trained at Tiger Muay Thai as well and that was also a great experience. I can’t wait to go back overseas and just experience new ways to train.” Kocak explained.
On his newly won belt Ali was grateful and excited for the opportunity “It’s any fighters dream come true you know?” He started “Whether it’s UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator or Storm Damage. Winning a belt anywhere in the world gives you something to show for all your hard work. It’s everyones dream, everyone wants to be the best.” This is something that Kocak can look forward to for some time now as he can now confidently say that he is the best Welterweight in the Canberra region.
Being the best is the country is now something firmly on Ali’s mind. “I just want to fight the best the country has to offer and I want to do everything I can to get better and learn. Fighting the best of the best, that’s what will make you a better fighter.” With so many different opportunities popping up each month all over the country it shouldn’t be too hard for Kocak to get on a high profile show. Extending his record to three wins with just one loss is just the first step in his plan to be the best at 77kg.
On his next fight Ali wasn’t so sure, “I don’t know what is coming up next. Brace have their show in Canberra and then Storm have another show next year. I would love to take a full fight camp overseas for my next fight and just be able to prepare at an elite level.” Whatever does come up next you can be sure that the Australian MMA community will be keeping an eye out as it only takes a few more wins strung together for Kocak to be one of the best the country has to offer.
Of course, none of this would be close to possible without the support of his sponsors. Ali was thankful of their support wand wanted to make sure that the hard work of Yarralumla Turkish Halal Pide House, Korefitness and Monster Sports Nutrition didn’t go unnoticed as they had all helped him throughout his training camp.
Things are really looking up for the “young gun” of the Australian Welterweight division, with one belt already around his waist Ali is eyeing not only some more gold but is looking to take out anybody who gets in his way to the top of the Australian rankings!
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