Adam Shahir Kayoom

For Borneo Tribal Squad’s founders in Kota Kinabalu, a connection with Adam Shahir Kayoom was part of a plan to improve local training. In a 2016 interview, they described affiliation with him and Q23-American Top Team as a way for athletes to develop without traveling far or spending so much. Kayoom was born in Kuala Lumpur in 1977 and moved with his family to Sydney at nine, according to BJJ Heroes. He described himself as Malaysian Australian and fought in MMA as Shogun. As a child he practiced taekwondo and judo, then karate. Evolve University’s biography places his introduction to Brazilian jiu-jitsu at eighteen. He later recalled a year traveling through Brazil, from Rio through São Paulo to Rio Grande do Sul, followed by training at American Top Team in Fort Lauderdale. His progress involved teachers on both sides of the Pacific. BJJ Heroes credits Walter Mattos and Zé Mario Sperry with his blue- and purple-belt development during visits to southern Brazil. It identifies Bruno Panno at Gracie Humaitá in Sydney as his brown-belt teacher, and dates his black belt under Ricardo Liborio to 2009. Evolve describes him as the first Malaysian to receive a BJJ black belt. He was teaching while pursuing other combat sports. In April 2007, The Star published a letter from Charles Wong describing Kayoom as his friend, mentor and coach, and the head instructor of a BJJ program at a Kuala Lumpur club. Wong also credited him with the 2006 WPMF middleweight world title. Evolve’s later biography credits him with two WPMF world titles in Muay Thai. Thailand offered a way to improve his striking after amateur MMA in Australia. He said affection for its culture and way of life kept him there. By March 2013, he had established Bangkok’s Q23/ATT Thailand. A July 2009 BK Magazine report had already described him teaching BJJ in Bangkok, including regular instruction at Niti Techottiasnee’s EMAC gym. His explanation went beyond applying holds: training meant staying composed in uncomfortable positions, controlling emotion and finding a way back to one’s feet. His teaching also reached other Thai communities. In a 2018 club history, Bryan Garrison recalled Kayoom visiting a multi-instructor martial-arts program in Chiang Mai in 2011. Garrison also identified EMAC’s Niti as a black belt under Kayoom by the time of that retrospective. The different strands of his training met in professional MMA. On 23 June 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, he defeated Gregor Gracie by unanimous decision at ONE FC. Afterwards, Kayoom spoke of the Gracie family with respect, crediting their jiu-jitsu with helping inspire his journey to Brazil and into MMA. He also supported other fighters: Keanu Subba later recalled how having Kayoom and Roger Huerta in his corner encouraged him before his June 2013 MIMMA featherweight final. At Q23, he described competitors and recreational students supporting each other, with challenging technical classes covering standing and ground work. Care for training partners mattered: ego, he warned, could damage the whole team. The work filled much of his week. In July 2013 he reported teaching private lessons, children and adults six days a week, returning after one day’s rest following his previous fight. Fatherhood added to the demands of being a coach and professional athlete. His response was to value training quality and partners he trusted rather than simply increasing the amount he did. A planned welterweight-title fight against Nobutatsu Suzuki that November did not happen for him. ONE FC announced that a training injury had forced Kayoom to withdraw. He continued to appear in jiu-jitsu competition. The IBJJF’s 2018 Asian Championship results list him for Q23 Academy as the silver medalist in the men’s Master 3 black-belt middleweight division. In April 2020, ONE named him among the former athletes on its first official rankings panel. In Kuching, his relationship with Studio 23 developed over several years. The Borneo Post reported in 2017 that Albert Lim and Kayoom guided the school, whose program included gi and no-gi training, women’s sessions and children’s classes. Kayoom returned for a two-day seminar on 11–12 May 2024 and awarded founder Lim his black belt. DayakDaily placed the event within the school’s official reopening after its move to Queen’s Court the previous November. Organiser Norman Chai described the work of rebuilding momentum after the pandemic. The connection continued. A June 2025 Sarawak Tribune report described another Kayoom-led Kuching seminar with seven other black belts on the mats. It recorded Ivan Evetovics receiving his first degree and new black belts for long-serving Studio 23 practitioners including Norman Chai and Jeremiah Moa. His later teaching history includes Singapore, where Evolve University lists him as an instructor at Evolve MMA. A biography prepared by ShapeShifter for its 2026 retreat describes him as a former head MMA coach there. On 10 June 2026, Equinox Academy announced his appointment to its coaching team in Chatswood, Sydney. It identified him as a fourth-degree BJJ black belt and described a composed, technical coaching approach supporting its children’s, teenagers’ and adult programs.