Adrian’TUCKMAN’ Tham – NOMAD Brotherhood

Real name – Adrian
Tham,  Job – Wealth Planner. Alter ego –
TUCKMAN, the proverbial fighter.

Core member of NOMAD – a brotherhood of martial artist made up of pack of hungry & determine group of fighters/athletes, that all possesses
the same goals to succeed in martial arts by means of putting in hard core
training daily, having strong will & heart of pure determination.

The journey to become
TUCKMAN,… began in kindergarten. Adrian’s involvement in fights during his
kindergarten years moved his parents to enroll him in Taekwondo class. Thanks
to Mr & Mrs Tham decision, this was the fuel that feed the fire inside
Adrian. His interest in martial grew & during his teenage years he took up
karate & have numerous success as a state karateka.

Graduating
with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Adrian decides to follow his father’s
footsteps in a career in insurance. With flexible working hours, this enables
him to train more to further develop his martial arts skills. Taking Bruce
Lee’s saying into his heart “Use only that
which works, and take it from any place you can find it”, “Adapt what is
useful, reject what is useless…” Adrian began to cross train in different
martial arts such as Judo, Sanda. The old bungalow at Likas ( Kota Kinabalu )
along Jalan Tuaran became the sweating ground where these pioneering bunch of
martial arts enthusiast cross train, test different techniques & learn from
each other.

Eventually
Adrian discovered Brazilian Jujitsu. Together with Allen Solomon Chong of BJJBorneo, they became the core members of BJJ Borneo in Sabah. As Adrian’s skill
grew he participated in Pan Asian Games 2010 – Philipines & won gold.
Collected another gold at Abu Dhabi Pro Jujitsu World Trails in April 2012.
Subsequently he  took up Muay Thai at
CORE FITNESS in Citymall Kota Kinabalu to further add to his arsenal of
striking techniques.

Abu Dhabi Pro Jujitsu World Trail

Adrian’s
thirst for success grew & the definitive goal of a bona fide martial artist
is to be successful in MMA. Along came the opportunity to fight in an MMA event
in KL – F3 Freestyle Full Contact Fight in Feb 2012. Training under AJ Pyro ( ONE
FC Fighter ), Adrian represented Borneo Tribal Squad. Success came via triangle
choke in round 1 over Jian Kai Chee.

ONEFC’s success spur the birth of MIMMA ( Malaysian Invasion MMA ) in 2013.  An amateur MMA tournament in Malaysia, currently
touted to be the best amateur MMA scene in the world. Fighting as a heavyweight
at 84kg, Adrian blaze thru the early rounds till the finals where he met Chris
Leow of KL. Adrian won by TKO on round 1, winning the inaugural MIMMA1
Heavyweight belt. ( relive the fight here ).  According to Adrian,
he was very focus during MIMMA, well prepared & train very hard for MIMMA1,
& that frame of mind truly bring him success.

Standing proud as the first Heavyweight Champ of MIMMA

In July
2014, Adrian as MIMMA Heavyweight Champ, represented Malaysia to Las Vegas-
together with fellow Sabahan , Allen Solomon Chong ( himself the MIMMA1 Light-Weight
Champ),

for the IMMAF (International MMA Federation) World
Championship of Amatuer MMA.

For
this fight, Adrian admitted that he was not fully prepared, due to work &
personal commitment. But he still reached round 3, which he lost by TKO to
American Zach Fears.

Even
though he was not at 100% fighting fit for IMMAF, but to him the
opportunity to participate in a world class MMA event & to fight at Las
Vegas ( combat sports capital of the world!!! ) was absolutely priceless. What more when the fight was held at UFC Fan Expo!

Memories at IMMAF World Championship 2014…training with team mates & meeting UFC superstars

MIMMA2
did not see Adrian defending his heavyweight title as he tie the knot. But married
life does not slow him down as he has put in an objective to do more fights
& collect wins in 2015, in-fact this motivates him more. With more
important things ( aside from personal achievement ) to fight for now.

Adrian
draw strength from his family, particularly his father, whom is his life inspiration.

As for
fighters, Adrian look up to Lyoto Machida ( former UFC Light Heavyweight
Champion ).

Drawing
insight from Lyoto’s similar karate background that he apply successfully in
UFC.

As a 1st
generation MMA of fighter from Sabah, he holds the respect as the ‘tai-kor’ (
Big Brother ) in the local martial arts circle. Adrian still holds true to the
traditional aspect of martial arts. Discipline, respect, indomitable spirit, etiquette,
self control… all these he still adheres to & he wishes to see his NOMADs
brothers do the same.

NOMAD brotherhood

In the
gym he is the first one in & the last one out of training. If as an
accomplished fighter like him are still putting in the hard work in training,
Adrian thinks any aspiring students should work harder than him. He wishes to
see young fighters go through the grind & train smart from proper coaches.
“ Young fighters should try to get more
experience in amateur fight or BJJ/judo/submission grappling comps before
jumping into pro MMA circuits.” To Adrian putting in the best effort to prepare
for fights is not only to achieve personal glory but also to make sure he does
not let down the people that support him ( his family & sponsors ).

Adrian
is in the ‘zone’ now with JFL 3 coming up on 4 April 2015. He will be fighting in
the main card vs Syafiq Akmal, an upcoming young fighter from Dihnar MMA. Then
in 26 April 2015, he will fight again vs Benneto, a MuayThai specialist in FightFest K1 Superfight. Don’t forget to get your tickets for both fight to see Adrian in action.

Training
smart is certainly one of his virtues. Adrian is a voracious consumer of
knowledge, he read up & do his own research on training & constantly
learning. To him to be fighting fit, physical training & techniques must be
balance with knowledge on food & supplements.
Cutting weight, to Adrian must be done smart, safe & healthly. Adrian uses Epsom salt to cut
weight ( which also gives benefit of relieving sore muscles – which is good
after a hard day of training ), taking vitamins supplements & eating clean
wholesome fresh food-avoiding fried food ensure his body is properly fuel &
work efficiently.