Special Feature
Reaching 100 | Sayif Saud on Milestone, Consistency, and What’s Next
Fortis MMA Leader Discusses His Journey To 100 Career UFC Victories, New Goals For The Future
Sayif Saud got his first UFC win on Saturday, September 4, 2013 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, when his charge, Sean Spencer, landed on the happy side of a split decision verdict in the opening bout of the night against Yuri Villefort.
“The first one was Sean Spencer, ‘Black Magic.’ That’s my guy!” the Fortis MMA leader offers quickly when asked to recount his initial triumph while cornering an athlete in the UFC just a few weeks after Sam Hughes’ split decision win over Stephanie Luciano became his 100th UFC victory as a coach. “Sean Spencer, in Brazil, against Yuri Villefort. It was me versus Henri (Hooft) in the other corner; I think they were Blackzilians then.”
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Truth be told, that fight took place so long ago that the team may has still been known by their original name, Imperial Athletics, which just goes to show how long the man affectionately known as “The General” has been doing his thing at the highest level in the sport.
Reaching this milestone was something Saud was always gunning for; he’d mentioned it several years ago during one of our conversations, and it remained a check-in point for us each time we spoke.
“I think it’s the consistency,” begins Saud, explaining why accumulating 100 wins was something he was very cognizant of and held out as a goal for himself and the Dallas-based squad. “When I started the gym in 2016, I really wanted one of our hallmarks to be achievement. I want it to be one of the best gyms in the world. That’s a tall order to really try to make a gym out of nothing and create a team.
“A hundred wins, to me, is such a big number that I would say it shows a consistent amount of winning.
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“I also think it’s important to know the number of fighters that are winning,” adds the 44-year-old, whose own career as a fighter was cut short by injuries, prompting him to pivot to coaching. “Being able to produce fighters, rather than get them from other places, get them when they’re already in the UFC — and that goes into that we have 18 Contender Series wins, too — it all builds into what my vision was for Fortis MMA.”
Of the more than 20 fighters that have represented the team inside the Octagon and garnered UFC wins, a high percentage of them have been home-grown — fighters that began their careers training with Saud, worked their way up through the regional ranks and into the UFC out of the gym.
But it’s also fitting that Hughes, a transplant, was the one to collect win No. 100, as her current success at this level is a testament to the work being done in that room, as well as the impact coaching can have on an athlete’s career.
The former collegiate track athlete moved to Dallas brandishing a 0-3 record inside the Octagon, having dropped her short-notice debut to Tecia Pennington before losing consecutive decisions to Loma Lookboonmee and Luana Pinheiro. A good athlete with a tremendous work ethic, Saud was impressed with “Sampage” as soon as she turned up on the mats.
“It’s true what she said in the cage with (Michael) Bisping when he asked her,” he begins, repeating the story of his first real interaction with Hughes upon her arriving at the gym that she shared with the former middleweight champion turned analyst following her win over Luciano. “The first day I saw her, I could see the pain in her eyes. It’s like PTSD fighters get from losing or things not going right — they get a certain way where you can see the hurt on them, and I could see that on her, but I could also see the spark; the lioness.
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"I was like, ‘You’re really good!’ She goes, ‘What do you think I’m good at?’ and I said, ‘You’re good at everything; we just need to put it together.’ She looked at me with a smile on her face that I’ll never forget.
“Sammy is one of those fighters that a coach loves: somebody that can come in and show that the effort, the consistency, the toughness, and the mindset of ‘never give up’ pays off. It’s not just a cliche; we don’t just say it.”
Hughes, much like former Ultimate Fighter finalist Uriah Hall, is one of the few “re-builds” — athletes that had previous UFC experience, but took a noticeable step forward after aligning with Fortis MMA — that have become synonymous with the gym. For the most part, though, it’s the group that rose together through the regional scene and Dana White’s Contender Series that are the most well-known faces of the team; fighters like Geoff Neal, Ryan Spann, and Alonzo Menifield, each of whom has contributed seven or eight wins to the tally Saud has now amassed.
But as we speak about the different athletes that have passed through the gym and succeeded at the UFC level, I mention to Saud that none feels more representative of what Fortis MMA is than Macy Chiasson, the former TUF winner and bantamweight title contender.
Arriving at the gym from her native Louisiana with just a couple pro appearances under her belt, Saud pushed for her to get a chance to compete on Season 28 of the long-running reality TV competition, telling the powers that be that he believed she was capable of winning the whole thing, despite her lack of experience.
She did just that, earning technical knockout wins over Larissa Pacheco and Leah Letson in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, before submitting Pannie Kianzad in the finale. While it hasn’t always been smooth sailing since, the 33-year-old has gone 7-3 over her 10 fights inside the Octagon, emerging as a legitimate threat in the 135-pound weight class, with her most recent win standing out as one of her coach’s all-time favorite moments.
“We raised her,” he says proudly of Chiasson, who currently sits at No. 5 in the women’s bantamweight rankings. “She was like a little baby fawn when she first came in, and now she’s just a killer.
“Her Bueno Silva fight — her last fight — is one that stands out just because after she elbowed her, she smiled, and it’s just such a window into how she thinks,” he adds with a laugh. “She loves doing damage. She’s fighting to hurt people, and she’s always been that way, so it was indicative of her. I saw the replay where she cuts her open and she gets this little smirk on her face on the big screen.”
The pride he feels for having helped Chiasson accomplish that moment and reach the point she’s at is evident in his voice, as is the fact that he wants even more for the Top 5 talent.
“I would really like to see Macy win the title, and I think she can,” Saud says when asked what new goals he’s chasing now that 100 wins is in the rearview mirror. “And I would really like to see Geoff be the best version of himself; I think he’s one of the most exciting fighters on the roster when he’s on point.
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“And I would like to see this young crop come up,” he adds, gushing about the next wave of talent from the gym that has already began to touch down in the UFC, with more inevitably on the way. “We’ve got some real killers now, and they’re all so good because they grew up in that room getting schooled by all these vets.
“I’m proud of those kids and proud of the organic growth that we’ve produced; having a whole other crop of really talented kids coming up is pretty cool.”
As much as he’s unquestionably proud to have reached this milestone and helped so many athletes chase and achieve their dreams inside the UFC Octagon, there is also the other side of the coin that Saud and all the men and women that travel the globe assisting their athletes every weekend have to deal with that continues to weigh heavily on the Fortis MMA head coach.
“I said this with Jon Anik, ‘101 wins is 101 times I wasn’t with my kids; I wasn’t at the game, I wasn’t at the tournament,’ so everything is a trade-off,” says Saud, echoing a thought shared and felt by every coach in the business. “You don’t get anything worth getting without a lot of sacrifice, and I’ve sacrificed a ton.
“So now it’s just a math problem: how much longer and how much more am I willing to sacrifice being away from my own kids as they enter high school and are getting older? I feel like I want to be there for some of that stuff.
“I always said when I got to a hundred, that was probably gonna be the end, you know?” he adds. “There are times where I felt that way, but I don’t feel that way now. I feel invigorated. I’m definitely excited about the young crop.”
One wave of talent from the Dallas gym already swept through Dana White’s Contender Series during the first couple seasons, so don’t be surprised to see another come crashing into the UFC APEX in the years ahead.
In the meantime, you are sure to see (and hear) Saud in the corner, barking instructions, praising decisions, and firing up his athletes, just like he does just about every Saturday.
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