This Saturday, October 21, future New Jersey Martial Arts Hall-of-Famer, Rami Ibrahim will step into the ring for USKA in Allentown, PA. This will be Ibrahim’s 186th Muay Thai fight which continues his streak as the longest active Muay Thai fighter in the northern hemisphere.

The list of accolades for “the Arabian Nightmare” is endless: top ranked Muay Thai fighter in the United States, 10th ranked fighter in the world, U.S.K.A champion Muay Thai fighter, just to name a few. Ibrahim is so accomplished that he may have more nicknames than Apollo Creed. Also dubbed, “The Son of Palestine”, Ibrahim has been a Philadelphia native since the age of ten. He owns his own Muay Thai gym and has been fighting, without a trainer, for the passed four years.

His story is a true testimony of the American Dream. He is the son of immigrants who moved from Kuwait during the start of the Gulf War. His family lost everything because of the war. So what does a fighter who has accomplished so much in his career talk about?

Well … when he was four years old, he was kidnapped (you read that correctly).

Ibrahim joined the SFLC Kickboxing podcast to tell his story before his upcoming match with U.S.K.A. After discussing his past, inside the ring and out, he casually went into the jaw-dropping story.

“I was born a fighter, before I started fighting,” Ibrahim stated.

“When I was four years old I was kidnapped. I was kidnapped when I was four years old … because I was Palestinian. When I lived in Kuwait they used to kidnap Palestinian children and they used to sell them to do stuff … a lot of evil stuff. I got out of that. When I was kidnapped, I still remember that story like it was yesterday. I was born a fighter.”

Ibrahim hopes his story is able to inspire others, while also being an advocate for Palestinians dubbed, “the Voice for the voiceless.”

Check out the full interviews on the SFLC Kickboxing podcast below and be sure to check out USKA Fights in Allentown, PA on October 21st.