As announced by the Desert Force chairman Mr. Zaid Mirza, the well established MMA organization will be touring several Arab countries in the coming year. Started as an exclusively made Arab fighters’ organization, Desert Force recently opened the door for international fighters, and better yet, this tour would open further space for more international fighters to hop on the Arab fighters’ bandwagon. Moving onto the announced countries, let’s start with the attributes of each of these nations:
- Saudi Arabia: The long awaited fight between Abdulkareem Al-Selwady and Aziz Julaidan has been postponed due to the latest’s injury, and thus the rivalry increased after the announcement of the Desert Force Al Academiya’s second season, in which the two fighters were represented as team coaches. Julaidan will have the ground and crowd advantage over Al Selwady as the event will be occurring in his hometown KSA, but it is not a decisive factor, hence the fighters bring out everything they got for the crowd.
- Egypt: The land of the ninety million citizens has been evolving in the sport of MMA and has become the number one exporter of fighters in the sport; therefore it is fair enough to host the event in Egypt. It is also worth noting that the Middleweight champion Ibrahim El-Sawi is Egyptian and has a considerable database of crowd in Arab countries, notably in Egypt.
- Qatar: The GCC nation not only attracted the world’s attention as an emerging market and oil producing country, but it also dragged further attention by becoming the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. With all the sports related investment going on in Qatar, it is quite a good idea to have Desert Force organizing an event in the blooming gulf nation.
- Morocco: Egypt might be the biggest exporter of Arab fighters, but Morocco is also known for being the factory of fighters in the Arab world. With its fine quality of fighters such as Badr Hari, Lhoucine Ouzgni and Lamrani Ibrahim, the North African nation gained popularity and a good reputation among the nations with the best kick boxers and MMA fighters not only in the Arab world, but also in the world. Also, not to forget that the current Welterweight champions Aniss Hajaji is Moroccan, and will defend his title against the Lebanese Mohammad Ghorabi next month.
As we conclude, the Desert Force management has made a good choice of hosting nations, for each of these Arab countries would lure more viewers and expand its’ reputation and give a chance for the fans to watch the fights live on their soil. But the question remains, which among these nations will be Desert Force’s cash cow?
