Rick Selvarajah is keeping busy with training for his professional MMA fights, but is also passing on his knowledge to other fighters through his academy Revival MMA and Fitness.
Describe your path to becoming a MMA fighter.
I initially started as a way to just lose weight. I wanted to try martial arts and I was instantly captivated by the art of training my body and mind. I fell in love with the sport and started to compete just to test myself. It was something that came very naturally to me, but coupled with a lot of hard work and dedication I was able to progress to becoming a professional athlete. The rest is history.
Do you see yourself continuing down this path for the next 5-10 years? How would you describe your career so far?
I plan on competing for the next 5-7 years depending on how my body feels. My career so far has been amazing. I’ve fought at the highest level in the UK and I’m proud of my achievements. But I am someone who always wants to push further and so I still have a lot more of my dreams to chase.
What are your plans after your current pursuit of being a MMA fighter?
After I retire from fighting, I plan to continue expanding my academy – Revival MMA and Fitness. I am already a coach, as well as an athlete, but once I have finished fighting I will make the transition to fully focussing all of my time on growing and developing my academy.
Tell us more about Revival MMA and what prompted you to start that business.
Revival MMA is a new martial arts and fitness centre that was started to pass on the knowledge and skill I have gained throughout my life. At Revival we welcome students from all walks of life and work on them becoming the best version of themselves that they can be. At Revival we believe in ‘Rising Above Excellence’, not only in skill and fitness but also in discipline and confidence, which are attributes our younger students benefit from the most. I opened the business because I started to realise that I wanted to teach martial arts in my own unique way and leave a legacy behind later down the line.
What is one thing that you were surprised to learn about in the course of starting and running your business?
I was surprised and truly humbled and shocked when I realised how many people wanted to support my business. I was getting messages from so many people that I haven’t connected with in a long time, with so many of my old friends and family joining up and loving their classes. I am, and will always be eternally grateful for all the love and support I have received. It’s also such a pleasure to see so many new faces, eager to learn and take everything in. It reminds me of the passion I had when I first started.
Can you recollect a failure, or apparent failure, which set you up for later success?
A massive failure at the time which later on proved to be a huge success for me, was losing my first ever MMA Tournament. I was about 8 months into training and I decided to compete. I fought against a more experienced opponent and lost on points. How I felt after that loss cemented to me how much I wanted to get better and become a fighter.
