Pieter Buist is a professional MMA fighter from Breda, Netherlands. He is currently signed to the ONE promotion in Asia where he has won his first 3 fights and is still on an 8 fight win streak overall. Despite fighting at various places on the other side of the world, Buist still lives in his original hometown Breda and trains at the gym Combatbrothers.
Like many modern day professionals, Buist was introduced early to martial arts when he began training Judo aged 6. This continued around age 12, when he started to learn Muay Thai & Kickboxing, this is no surprise as Netherlands is well known for it’s great kickboxing fighters throughout the last few decades. When Buist entered his early 20’s he began to train MMA and added some grappling experience to his striking knowledge, he realised if he was to become an MMA fighter it was very important to learn BJJ.
When asked about his grappling style, Buist claims that the butterfly sweep is his favourite sweep, which is no surprise considering it’s importance in MMA. In addition to this he likes to pressure pass and is fond of the triangle choke. Once again, these are very important techniques for a successful MMA fighter.
Currently training under Reinier de Ridder & Harun Ozkan, Buist competes between 70kg and 77kg and claims his biggest achievements are winning the WFL lightweight title and also defeating former ONE champion Eduard Folayang in his home country of the Philippines, a fight which Buist took on only 2 weeks notice. At this moment Buist is the 3rd ranked Fighter in the One Championship lightweight division.
This is no surprise as at Combatbrothers, Buist only takes one day off after each fight. Something which we have not really heard of in MMA.
The nickname “Archangel”, this was given to him by a fan, “I liked it so I ran with it” he says. On a more serious note, Buist is a very religious man and a strong believer in Jesus Christ. When questioned about his faith and what helped him to get out of his tough circumstances earlier in his life he mentioned, “For me it was Jesus Christ and a lot of self reflection!! And because of that I’m always humble and strive for perfection. Even though that’s impossible, but that makes my work mentality almost impossible.”
Buist says that he does not have an opponent who he considers to be the toughest, instead he believes that all opponents bring their own style and problems, it is up to him as a fighter to solve these. As for future goals, Buist has set his sights on the ONE lightweight championship claiming in his own words that he would like to have this title for “a long long long long long long long long long long long long time”.
On a final positive note, when asked about having a tough time in life and being homeless, Buist has this advice for the younger generation looking to make something of their lives “Never ever ever give up , always be ready for the next obstacle even when it’s bigger than you !! But learn to always be humble and look at yourself. No matter how far you are in life, always stay a student to the game and learn not to hate but congratulate!!”
Lastly, the personable Buist says “shout-out to the people behind the scenes who help me and have helped me during my journey to greatness and trust me you ain’t seen nothing yet!!”
He also adds “Ps if you’re ever in Holland come and visit team combatbrothers, everyone is welcome”
Website: https://combatbrothers.nl/
