Forged in Steel : meet Ahmed Krnjic

Bosnian heavyweight Ahmed Krnjic (14-3-1, 4 KO) is the latest GLORY signature. The 27 year old powerhouse joins the roster of the world’s leading kickboxing organization and he is looking to make an impact. 

“I’m very excited because I want to show my techniques on the big stage and GLORY is the biggest stage,” he says. Safe to say that his techniques are worth seeing. With a wide range of kicks and big power in his hands, Ahmed also seems to have unlimited stamina. No doubt the result of a life partly spent at altitude a few kilometers away from Sarajevo. “I spend a lot of time in nature, in the mountains, in forests. This probably gave me good cardio”.

When asked what makes him stand out from the rest of the division, Ahmed doesn’t hesitate for a second. “My style is going to be a problem for a lot of guys because I don’t fight close to my opponents. Today, kickboxers want to fight close and focus on punches and power hooks. I prefer kicks and moving, being more active”, he says. He recognises those qualities in both Rico Verhoeven and Levi Rigters that he says are “better at kicks than the rest of the division”. We’ve seen less flattering comparisons.   

Maybe this ease with kicks is also linked to what made him fall in love with combat sports in the first place : the movies. Ahmed talks about Bruce Lee, about Jean-Claude Van Damme and his fascination for those action packed films that he used to watch when he was younger. This led him to try Shotokan Karate and quickly change to kickboxing at 14 because he “wanted to hit harder”. The rest of the division is warned. Once a fighter, he found inspiration in the likes of Badr Hari, Remy Bonjasky, Ernesto Hoost or Mirko Cro Cop, all fighters that have left a bit of them in Ahmed’s style. 

“In Bosnia, we don’t have too many heavyweight fighters for sparring”, he confessed. So Ahmed has to travel across Europe when it comes to his training camps. He goes to Germany and the Netherlands to find good sparring and to progress. It’s a long way from home but his country is always with him, it’s in his nickname. “The Bosnian Steel” was given to him by fans as an acknowledgement that he is a worthy representative of Zenica, a very important industrial city in Bosnia based around steel production. 

When asked to talk about the favorite fight of his career, the name of Uku Jurjendal (20-9, 16 KO) immediately comes up. Both men met a couple of years back and Ahmed took home a unanimous decision win after a very hard battle. A landmark victory for him, but certainly not the last for the man who wants to “beat all of these guys [GLORY heavyweights] and become champion”. 

To achieve his goal, Ahmed relies on his infallible discipline. “Discipline always beats motivation. Motivation sometimes only lasts one week but discipline allows you to be focused on your goals all the time,” he says. The road to the top should start soon enough for Ahmed Krnjic as he awaits his first fight in GLORY. It shouldn’t be too hard to find him an opponent because as he says : “Whoever GLORY says, I’ll say yes”.