ANN Osman will be missing life in the cage after having just retired as an MMA fighter. The One Championship female star speaks with Timesport
Question: You are closing your year by announcing your retirement from the cage. Apart from your contract agreement being up, what else led to the decision?
Answer: Since making my professional debut with One Championship, I have been fighting every year for the last five seasons with at least two fights and also attending fight camps.
While I have enjoyed my fighting days, the idea of retirement has been lingering in my mind since early this year as I wanted to focus on growing my business as well as exploring other opportunities outside the cage.
Q: Following your announcement of retirement, what were the responses from your family, friends and fans?
A: My family, my husband (Effendi@Andrey Adriano Abdullah) and friends have been supportive and they do understand the reason for my decision. I have received a lot of messages from supporters who commented they were surprised and sad (by my decision) but many were also happy and congratulated me for taking the next big step in my MMA career.
Q: Could a baby be on the way for you following your retirement or are you involved in something domestic?
A: (Laughs) I don’t know whether a lot of male fighters get asked about this when they announce their retirement. My husband and I haven’t planned to start a family anytime soon as we have been focused on co-managing and growing the business (a fitness centre in Kota Kinabalu, Fitness Rites Centre, and a recreational adventure company, Xtreme Paddlers Borneo). But when the time is right, God willing, it will happen.
Q: Following your retirement announcement, it was said that you will be joining One’s corporate belt. What do you wish to accomplish there in your new role?
A: As One continues to grow with more competitions next year including three events in Kuala Lumpur, this has provided many opportunities for Malaysian fighters and MMA artists to make their dreams come true and advance their careers to a global stage.
As part of the Athlete Relations and Recruitment team for One Championship, I look forward to discovering and signing new talents, who possess the skills, heart and values that reflect what One Championship athletes represent.
Q: Hayatun Najihin has joined the One female roster. How can she grow and how do you see her?
A: It’s great to know that Hayatun, a young and determined woman, has joined the One female roster which also includes other amazing talented Malaysian female fighters such as Ella Tang, Adek Omar and Audrey Laura Boniface.
I really look forward to seeing all of them succeed and continue to make our country proud. To see more rising Malaysian female fighters and bringing different fighting styles to the One cage and winning a One world title in the future would be great.
Q: Share with us what else will you be doing post-retirement?
A: I am looking forward to expanding our travel company, Travel Rite Tours Sdn Bhd and our brand, Xtreme Paddlers. We offer a lot of adventure tourism products with white water rafting, mountain climbing and trekking being our core products.
I will be busy exploring all the amazing tourism sites in Sabah, creating more travel packages and growing our market appeal. With the success of our recent social responsibility project, Xtreme Academy, we hope to continue it and groom more local youths from rural areas in Sabah to become adventure and tourism professionals in the industry.
Aside from managing work, I am also looking forward to learning more new skills and martial arts as I am still actively training despite having to retire from professional fighting. It’s also a great way to forge relationships with other teams and gyms as well as discover new talents across the country.
Q: If you had the power to change things, what would you do?
A: The power to grant never-ending wishes so I can help to make this world a better place to live in.
Q: You prefer DC or Marvel comics? Why?
A: Marvel for sure. Because of Thor, must I say more?
Q: Complete this sentence: “There should be ________ so that _______ ”
A: There should be more compromise in the world so that peace could take place!
Q: Share with us some of your favourite movies and your movie lines?
A: I am such a movie buff that I really love watching comedy and romcom (romantic comedies), aside from Marvel movies, of course.
My all-time favourite, and something I share with my sisters and friends, is that we are huge fans of the movie White Chicks!
I think I have watched it like 10 times and can memorise all the important lines. My favourite line is ‘Triple T KA — Time to Totally Kick-Ass!’