‘The Turkish Tyson’ Gokhan Saki began kickboxing in 2003. The next year he tried mixed martial arts, without knowing the rules. That ended badly for him, and he stuck to kickboxing, eventually having nearly 100 fights, winning the vast majority and becoming one of the best in the world. At UFC Fight Night 116 on September 23 in Saitama, Japan he tried MMA again, winning the fight, and a $50,000 performance bonus.

Saki showed remarkable striking ability, and opponent Henrique da Silva showed remarkable durability. Then Saki appeared to tire, unfamiliar he said afterward, with the clinching that is so central to MMA. While Muay Thai has different but comparable clinching, kickboxing does not. It appeared as if Saki was fading might lose when suddenly he ended the fight with a savage left hook. Savage is an overused word, but it was.

Saki appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour and said he wants to train in America, the heart of the wrestling-based mixed martial arts that dominates the sport. And he’s already back at work.

I’m training hard for a fight, said Saki as transcribed byPeter Carroll for MMA Fighting.

We’re talking about a new date and I really can’t wait to fight in the US. I tried a fight here one time before and I really liked the US. I’m planning also to move to the US. I’m hoping to fight this year, one more time.

I think I’m going to go to Miami because I’m training today with Selman Berisha, he is the trainer of Ilir Latifi. He lives in Sweden and in Miami, so we have good contacts over there. If we can go to Miami to train we are going to do that. Everything is open still.”

For me, this is the place to be and to train. There is panicking in my eyes, I will be much more happy with my career over there. Like I said, I think it will be good.

Berisha teaches at American Top Team. Gokhan Saki with a year or two of training at ATT would be a force at light heavyweight.