To be honest, I’ve been chasing the opportunity to fight in the UFC for a long time.
Every professional athlete wants to play at the top of their game. If you’re good at basketball you want to play in the NBA, or in soccer you want to play in the Champions League. I want to compete amongst the best. And always believed I’d test myself against top fighters.
2020 has been crazy and we’re living through a unique moment with this pandemic. Not even my parents lived through something like this. There is lots of weird stuff happening now which includes how I’ve ended up in the UFC.
It’s a funny story. My management, MTK – who has fighters such as Darren Till already in the UFC – have been working hard to get me a contract by the end of 2020. But we got the call early.
One of my friends who used to live in Dubai was in a restaurant in Las Vegas and UFC president Dana White was sat on a nearby table. My friend went over to Dana and showed him some of my highlights and said, “you need to sign this guy”.
Soon after, Dana followed me on Instagram and put UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby in touch with me and my management. And here we are getting ready to make my debut on Fight Island, Abu Dhabi.
There are a few fighters from the region, but I will be the first Arab to be born, raised and trained in the middle east.
Most tend to go to fight camps in the UK or US, but I stayed here. I’ve received a lot of messages of support from people in the region wishing me the best for my debut. Lots of gyms here in Dubai have been sending their best coaches to push me more in my training camp. It has been a blessing. I feel like I’m living the dream.
I’m doing this for the next generation of Arab fighters. I came from a very hard, rough road in Tunisia and this is for all of the people who have been put down in their lives by people that didn’t believe in them or their skills. I feel like I’m carrying them all on my shoulders. If I made it to the top promotion, then so can you. I don’t want them to ever stop dreaming as nothing is impossible.
