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Iran’s Abolfazl Yaghoubi: Mr. Unpredictable Aims to be Taekwondo’s Greatest Fighter
Iran’s Abolfazl Yaghoubi: Mr. Unpredictable Aims to be Taekwondo’s Greatest Fighter
In boxing, it was Mohammed Ali. In MMA, it is Conor McGregor. And in taekwondo the most self-confident, most self-regarding fighter might just be an 18-year from Mazandaran, Iran. “I think I am phenomenal, there has been nobody like me in taekwondo,” says Abolfazl Yaghoubijouybari. “And there will be nobody like me.”
He went to Manchester as the world-ranked number 18, but listening to him you could be mistaken for thinking he is number one. Then again, an iron core of self-belief – if not arrogance – is critical for an elite athlete.
And it is not empty talk. In Manchester, he scorched his way through the -68kg division with laser-like focus and venomous intent.
En route to the finals, he took on Belgium’s Jaoud Achab, the top-ranked player in the division and one of the most versatile fighters in the sport. Having dispatched Achab, he found himself squaring off against the legendary Servet “The Leopard” Tazegul in the semifinals.
Pitting the Turk’s leaping, spinning offensive against the Iranian’s accuracy and tactical nous, the fight was an epic: In a sport where 1-0 victories are not uncommon, the two battled to a 22-22 (yes, that is not a typo; 22-22) draw before the Iranian youngster took out the Turkish Olympic champ in golden point.
Then it was the final against Korea’s Dae-hoon Lee in the men's -68kg category at the 2015 WTF World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series 3 on October 16, 2015.
Lee started the match firing off a barrage of kicks, but it was the Iranian who found the range and took an early two-point lead. The Korean shot back, but Yaghoubijouybari soon regained his advantage with a picture-perfect punch, ending the round 3-1.
As Round 2 got underway, Lee – at 23, an older and more experienced fighter - regained his composure. Lee maneuvered his opponent to the edge of the mats and landed a head shot, putting him ahead. From then on, the match went Lee’s way, all the way. Yaghoubijouybari almost got back into the game with a spin kick, but Lee was giving the crowd a cool-headed display of technique, scoring to both body and head. The fight ended 16-7 to the Korean, whose professionalism showed why he was named the WTF’s “Male Player of the Year” in 2014.
“Lee is a great player and the fight with Servet had drained me,” said Yaghoubijouybari. “So I feel like I only played in the first round; in the second and third rounds, I was out of breath, out of energy. At first I was ahead,then I fell behind.”
Even so, a silver medal for an 18th ranked 18-year-old – not to mention his earlier victories over Achab and Tazegul – is a considerable sportive achievement. Yet it is one Yaghoubijouybari derides.
“At the last two GPs, I got bronze medals, but I threw them away,” he said.“My friends were surprised: I said, ‘These things don’t matter to me, I only want gold.” This interview took place the day following his bouts, but he did not have his medal with him.“Oh, already I don’t know what I have done with my silver,” he said, offhand.
He originally got involved in taekwondo to stay out of trouble. “I was overactive and I used to get in a lot of trouble because of my energy!” he said. “My parents would not let me leave the house, but inside the house I used to beat up everybody!” Introduced to taekwondo, he found out immediately that he had a talent for it “Once I achieved my yellow belt I started beating second-dan black belts,” he said. “That got me interested, and I did not give up.”
He is nicknamed “Mr. Unpredictable” by his teammates and his favored technique is an unorthodox one: the highheel hook kick or“scorpion kick.”
“I was the person who demonstrated this kick for the first time ever, and everybody is following me,” he claims with a hint of bombast. “From far away, anyone can do it, but I do it from close-up.” Questioned further about his mastery of the technique, he insisted, “If anyone can do it on me, I will give them a thousand dollars! On another player, I will tell them what I am going to do - then I will do it.”
For a young man with such a billowing self-belief, it is unsurprising that he considers his most important combative asset neither his physique nor his technique, but his mental game. “I choose the techniques that I want to do and I follow my own instincts,” he said.“Yesterday I listened to my coach, but if I think I know better, I follow my own initiative.”
He is not a fan of any non-Iranian fighter on the circuit. “It looks like they are fencing with their feet, I don’t like the way they fight,” he said - echoing the criticism many traditionalists make of the push-kick game played by many “new school” players.“They use the bottom of the foot instead of performing taekwondo.”
He is short for his category and is unimpressed by taller, leggier fighters. “A lot of players do not have any techniques, all they do, as long as they are tall, is they keep one leg up and earn points that way,” he said. “They don’t show technique or footwork. This is not taekwondo.”
Yaghoubijouybari‘s life for now revolves entirely around the sport: he has no other hobby: “It is taekwondo rest; taekwondo rest; taekwondo rest.”
Due to his dedication to the game, and the heavy time commitment required to attend Iran’s famous but grueling taekwondo training camps, he had difficulties in high school, but in the future he would like to enroll in higher education and study law. The timing of that depends upon when he has – in his own words – “broken Lopez’s record.”
Team USA’s Steven Lopez is the most famous athlete in the sport’s history; a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a five-time world champion. Does the precocious Iranian really think he can break Lopez’s awesome record?
“Mr. Unpredictable” smiles, but is deadly serious. “If I did not believe in myself I would have never followed taekwondo and would have given up,” he said. “I want my fans and followers to know that as soon as I enter the field of play, I am the best player in taekwondo history.”
Source: WTF
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