Here you have it folks, the Desert Force middle weight champ, or should I say, the former Desert Force middle weight champ, Hashem Arkhagha, has finally relinquished his title after now almost two years of absence. Arkhagha, however, has not retired from mixed martial arts competition yet.
After, the gruesome battle Arkhagha had in the end of 2012 with the Egyptian beast, Ibrahim El Sawi, Arkhagha was able to capture the 84 KG shield, getting his face literally broken in the process, but showing a lot of heart. Till this day, the fight has been one of the best fights in Desert Force history with both fighters going at it at full throttle.
Now, Arkhagha plans at going up to fighting at light heavyweight (93 KG) for his next fight. Arkhagha is already a big guy and can surely be as impressive in the 93 KG division. When we spoke to Arkhagha regarding his goals and plans on fighting at a different weight category and making his return to Desert Force, he replied.
Arkhagha:
“My plan is to fight bigger next time. I wanna fight with more muscle mass. I don’t care who, where or when, but it’s gonna be somewhere within the middle of the next year. 2015 is my year !”
Making clear his plans, the middle weight title is now vacant, especially with Mohamad Fakhredine’s move to welterweight (77 KG). As we already know, however, two contenders, Abdullah ABou Hamdan and Ibrahim El Sawi, are going to slug it out to get the shield. These guys are almost equal in their power, attitude and abilities. On the matter, Arkhagha explained.
Arkhagha:
“Abu Hamdan and Sawi will be a good fight. Hamdam has the better hands and Sawi has better kicks, though Hamdan looks small compared to Sawi. I would give it to Sawi at the end.”
Certainly, the former champ has his reasons for giving it to Sawi, with a lot of mutual respect between these two. We cannot deny the power of Sawi and the fact that, though losing his fight to Arkhaga, Sawi rearranged the former champ’s face and left him unable to compete for a decent period of time. It’s good to know that we will finally see Arkhagha compete again at 93 KG where he is sure to be as, if not more, promising than his former middleweight division.
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Good luck ARKHAGHAA <3 <3