We write about a lot of stupid kids at With Leather — the little girl who held fish over a dolphin tank and stopped paying attention, kids who let soccer players wipe boogers on their faces, kids who don’t keep their head up at hockey camp and whimpery little baseball kids who cry to get what they want among them — so it’s nice to occasionally take a step back and remember that there are kids in the world who have it together, and could straight-up kickbox you to death.
Case in point: Reshat Mati, a kid who is 13-years old and good enough at murdering you that adults (adults!) call him THE ALBANIAN BEAR. You know, the kind of nickname you get when you’ve garroted somebody with piano wire in the background of an episode of ‘The Wire.’
From The Show PRODIGIES – They take you inside the gritty, adrenaline-fueled world of youth boxing and martial arts. Meet Reshat Mati, known as the Albanian bear. At thirteen years old, Reshat is already a world champion kickboxer, muay thai fighter and grappler, and a United States National Silver Gloves boxing champion. (via MMA TKO)
Also impressive is this kid’s collection of “like 22″ championship belts, including one that says NAGA NORTH AMERICAN GRAPPLING CHAMPION but is pretty clearly Ric Flair’s “Big Gold” World Heavyweight Championship:

The entire video is worth a watch, especially for the montage of Mati skunking a bunch of unsuspecting elementary school students with his brutal roundhouses and judo throws. This kid is one abandonment on a hostile planet away from being Riddick. Somebody get him a pair of night vision goggles and, I don’t know, a flak jacket.
So the next time you’re watching a kid on the Internet get brought to tears by playful joshing, remember that there is a polar opposite, and that somewhere a kid like the Albanian Bear is kata ha jime’ing somebody like that.
[h/t to Cameron Smith @ Prep Rally]


i think when i was 13 i was going through trashcans looking for discarded porn. enriching.
The kid is pretty beastly, but I don’t know if he’s better than the Albanian Assassin
Huh, 13 year olds punching each other in the head…make sure they dont play football tho
It’s Albania. Everyone gets an AK47 at their baptism.
NAGA? Please.
I can’t wait for him to join the Estonian Thunder Frog and the Latvian Proud Oak next year at Trios (Even though a Baltic trio with some sort of Lithuanian thing would be more accurate).
I’m betting on this kid as soon as he turns pro. If you’re that skilled, would anyone choose MMA over boxing?
I doubt it. Way, way more money to be made in boxing.
I might have to wait to bet on him inside the octagon, but I’ll put 10k right now on this kid needing intensive therapy. My heart broke when he was in the car talking about this being his dream. Close kid, it’s your fathers dream, but you’ll learn that in therapy later. Then again, when I was 13 my dream was to be Trish Stratus’s husband. So there’s that.
The greatest part was the gi grappling match clip at around 1:19 where he just pushes his opponent backwards and then cut to the hand raise. Stay classy 13 year old.
A tip of the cap to this young fella. When I was 13 I wasn’t the king of the ring, I was the king of awkward boners in spandex. There’s no hiding that kind of shame, especially when asked to prove a math problem in front of the class. No thank you, teacher, I brought my own pointer…
This kid got pushed too hard by his dad at too young an age. He’ll burn out.