Alessio Sakara gives his opinion on Personal-Defence and Martial Arts.

Read or Jump On

MMA expert Alessio Sakara 'The Legionarius' gives his opinion on Personal Defence and Martial Arts.

I want to quote an interview with Alessio Sakara, done a couple of years ago by Andrea Bisaschi on the liberoquotidiano.it , in which he expresses his opinion on Personal Defence and Martial Arts.

I find his opinion relevant to what I reported in my earlier articles and therefore find it an interesting testimony to share with you.

The interview is based on the Italian situation but I think it is also applicable in other countries

Alessio Sakara Aka “Il Legionario”, who is

Alessio Sakara obviously needs no introduction in the world of MMA but since my Blog is addressed to those interested in Personal Defence a quick introduction may be appropriate.

I personally had the pleasure of having him as a guest at a FightZone seminar and he proved to be a very humble and helpful person.

Alessio Sakara aka ‘Legionarius’ is an Italian mixed martial artist turned television host and actor.

He fought in the middleweight division in the US Bellator MMA federation.

He was the first Italian to compete in the US UFC promotion. He fought in the UFC from 2005 to 2013 in both the middleweight and bantamweight divisions with a partial record of six wins and eight losses. He is one of the longest-tenured European athletes in terms of UFC experience.

For the specialised website FightMatrix.com, which bases its rankings on an algorithm that takes into account the results of individual athletes, Sakara is the ninety-fourth strongest light heavyweight in the world.

He also boasts a record as a professional boxer.

Sakara faced Erick Lozano on July 25, 2025 at BKFC Fight Night. He won the fight by knockout in the second round.

Sakara competed for the BKFC Cruiserweight Championship against current champion Chris Camozzi on October 25, 2025 at BKFC 83. He won the championship by split decision.

Alessio is a very simple and humane person who has repeatedly spoken out against bullying and discrimination.

The interview by Andrea Bisaschi

Andrea Bisaschi: There is a lot of talk about the lack of perception of safety in Italy, what do you think about that?

Alessio Sakara: ‘There is this perception among people, mainly because there is a lack of respect for the rules and for others. I see so much dishonesty, impropriety, lack of ethics, in fact the media unfortunately report all too often cases of inhuman aggression, ten against one or violence against the handicapped. The value of personal dignity and respect for human life has been lost’.

Martial arts can be useful for personal-defence

Which martial discipline is most suitable for personal-defence

Andrea Bisaschi: If you had to recommend a martial discipline to a person who would like to approach physical self-defence from a technical point of view, which would you indicate as the most suitable?

Alessio Sakara: I would advise him to start with mixed martial arts, which are made up of boxing, Thai boxing, Olympic wrestling (Greco-Roman and free) and ground fighting or brazilian jiu jitsu, which without Gi (kimono used by Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners) becomes grappling.

Then to complete the training I would look for some real experts in self-defence, unfortunately few can be found in Italy, to work at close range on the most vulnerable points of the human body to be hit, instead of using fighting techniques that have a more sporting purpose.

Fighting

Andrea Bisaschi: What makes the difference in a fight?

Alessio Sakara: ‘In a previous interview, I said some time ago that where technique does not arrive, athletic preparation arrives, and where athletic preparation does not arrive, grit arrives.

Doing security when I was younger, I used to see young people in clubs who, during a fight just on adrenalin, would go into breathlessness.

This means that if you are not able to control your fear, you immediately go into oxygen debt’.

Bullying

Andrea Bisaschi: I heard that you do interventions in schools to combat bullying. What prompted you to do that?

Alessio Sakara: ‘I started in 2012 because I can no longer stand the lack of respect.

We should start in primary school to educate young people to respect others and the lessons should be done with the parents present, the ones really responsible for their children’s education.

What was obvious to me right from the start is the fact that young people today no longer have reference points and sometimes, just with the right word, I can get through to them.

During my interventions I address the bullies, the victims and the silent majority, the ones who watch, film with their mobile phones and do not intervene in defence of the victims.

If you don’t find the attributes to react to constant bullying or you don’t find someone to help you do so, you risk finding yourself in your forties being bullied at work by your colleague or boss because you have always put your head down and are unable to stand up for yourself.

Sakara and Fighting Sport

Andrea Bisaschi: Why did you start doing combat sports?

Alessio Sakara: ‘I tried football when I was young, but after the tryout with Lazio, I realised that this wasn’t my sport, I saw injustices that I didn’t like, and I decided to try my hand at an individual sport in which the results depended only on my skills and not on external factors.

Right next to the place where I used to play football, there was a boxing gym run by a little old man, just like Mickey the trainer from Rocky Balboa, who had a look that was worth a thousand words. No one dared disrespect him.

In addition I had a lot of pent-up anger due to the fact that my father had abandoned the family, and boxing allowed me to release this strong emotion in a positive and regulated way.

From there I started competing first as an amateur and then as a professional.

Then at the age of 18 I went to Brazil for my first experience to learn brazilian jiu jitsu and when I returned to Rome, I worked hard as a bouncer to earn the money to be able to train there again.

At the age of 24 I signed for the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) the most important international MMA circuit’.

MMA, which discipline to start with

Andrea Bisaschi: If a young man in Italy wanted to start training in MMA from which discipline should he start in your opinion?

Alessio Sakara: Without a shadow of a doubt from Olympic Wrestling, so Greco-Roman and freestyle.

When I realised the importance of wrestling, I used to take an hour to go and train in the wrestling gym where the Fire Brigade trained.

I have trained in all combat sports but none is as tough as Olympic wrestling.

This discipline gives you a winner’s mentality because it is such a tough sport that it conditions you to keep going even when you are dead tired.

In fact they never teach you to go backwards because otherwise you lose the point and if you catch passivity because you are not active, you go down in the Greek position.

It’s not me claiming this, it’s the results that are there for all to see, except for those who don’t want to see.

The top ten in every weight class in both Bellator and the UFC come from Olympic wrestling.

In this regard I am reminded of a beautiful phrase by the great Walter Chiari who said…

The Americans when they don’t know something they pay those who know it to acquire it, the Russians send a spy, the Italian when he doesn’t know something he teaches it to you’.