Faldir Chahbari

"Fast" Faldir Chahbari (Riffian-Berber: ⴼⴰⵍⴷⵉⵔ ⵛⴰⵀⴱⴰⵔⵉ; born August 30, 1979) is a Moroccan-Dutch former welterweight kickboxer who fought out of Morocco. He a x2 Muay Thai amateur world champion and is the former (and first ever) World Full Contact Association (W.F.C.A.) Thai-boxing junior middleweight world champion.

Biography

Faldir Chahbari began boxing at the Kickboxing brummen gym in 1994, and started in youth matches 2 years later. Trained at the time by Kenneth Macnack, he now has his own gym giving training sessions in Zutphen and Apeldoorn. He has only one functioning eye, after losing the use of the other eye in an accident as a child.

Career

Chahbari spent most of his early career fighting in the Netherlands. He won his first major title at the Battle of Arnhem II event in 2001 where he won the I.K.B.O. European title. He followed up this victory by winning the W.P.K.L. Dutch national title the very next year. In 2004 he added another national title to his resume, this time with the W.F.C.A., following up with the European version in 2005 with a win against the talented knockout specialist Murat Direkçi. Between the years 2000 and 2006 he picked up some decent wins, defeating the likes of Marco Piqué and Gago Drago and retained his W.P.K.L. and W.F.C.A. national and European titles in other bouts. He also had a successful amateur career, winning two gold medals at the W.M.F. world championships held in Bangkok, Thailand and a silver at the W.A.K.O world championships held in Agadir, Morocco.

In 2006 Chahbari entered the K-1 MAX Netherlands 2006 in a bid to qualify for a reserve fight at the K-1 World MAX 2006 Final, He made his way through to the K-1 MAX Netherlands final in Utrecht but had his dreams of a flight to Yokohama scuppered by the experienced Rayen Simson who defeated him after an extension round. The following year he retained his W.F.C.A. European title by knocking out Chris Venrooij with a knee after just 15 seconds. Although he had missed out on a place at the K-1 MAX final the previous year, Chahbari did make his way to Japan where he took part in a number of Shoot Boxing events in Tokyo, winning one and losing one. In 2008, as W.F.C.A. European champion he met multiple world champion Albert Kraus, defeating him over five rounds to become the first ever W.F.C.A. world title holder at junior middleweight (under 70 kg). He held on to the belt until early 2010 when he lost to the highly decorated Andy Souwer who became the new champion. Since 2006 he has suffered more defeats as the competition has got tougher, losing to the likes of Buakaw Por. Pramuk and Giorgio Petrosyan, but has still shown himself to be a contender winning a KlasH tournament late in 2010 by defeating Shemsi Beqiri.

Titles

Professional Mix Fight Championship 2010 Mix Fight Gala 11 - KlasH tournament champion -72.5 kg

World Full Contact Association 2008-10 W.F.C.A. Thai-boxing world champion -69.85 kg (1 title defence) 2006 K-1 MAX Netherlands 2006 runner up -70 kg 2004-07 W.F.C.A. Thai-boxing European champion -69.85 kg 2004-07 W.F.C.A. Thai-boxing Dutch champion -69.85 kg

World Professional Kickboxing League 2002-03 W.P.K.L. Thai-boxing Dutch champion -67 kg

International Kickboxing Organization 2001 I.K.B.O. Thai-boxing European champion -67 kg

Amateur 2005 W.A.K.O. World Championships in Agadir, Morocco Silver -71 kg (Thai-boxing) 2005 W.M.F. World Championships Gold -70 kg (Muay Thai) 2003 W.M.F. World Championships Gold -67 kg (Muay Thai)

Kickboxing record