In the midst of an array of top-notch Desert Force events taking place at Jordan (Al Academiya Finale), as well as Bahrain (Desert Force 11), ArabsMMA was able to query widely immersed fighter Hashem Arkhagha concerning two specific fights and about his recent injury. Here is a transcript of what he had to say:
On Hussein Salem versus Abdul-Kareem El Sewady:
Sewady fought like a tiger last Friday. They changed his opponent five days before the fight, which made us change our whole game plan. Hussein had nothing to lose. He wanted to come and brawl. However, Abed dealt with it perfectly. He caught the guy with a couple of good punches.
He rocked him in the second round, but also got rocked in turn. Abed knew how to control himself. He was much different from his last fight, punching heavier, moving better, and having overall better defense. Also, his ground game was amazing and our game plan was to keep so much pressure (On Hussein Salem), take him down and give him a good ground and pound.
As you saw, everything was planned and went perfectly. I greatly respect Hussein because he had the guts and tried his best in the cage. I think he will have a bright future in Desert Force. On the other hand, I didn’t say anything about Julaidan. All I said was that he had no chance with abed and that the fight with Hussein was harder than fighting him, stylistically I guess.
On Mohammad Fakhreddine versus Thabet Agha:
I think that Thabet was controlling the fight from the beginning and controlled Fakhro very well on the ground. With striking, Thabet caught him a couple of times. By the second round, I think Fakhro was confused and Thabet was probably on his way to victory. Nevertheless, the injury came in a bad timing. If they were to fight again, I don’t see it going differently.
On his injury:
I had an injury about five weeks ago. I hurt my ankle. I had it ruptured and it was slightly fractured. I was putting a cast for two weeks and then I replaced it with a plastic cast. Now I’m feeling better. I’m also working on physiotherapy, I’ll be back to training in two weeks’ time, Insha’llah. I have no information on when i will be back in the cage.
So, there you have it folks. It does not get more candid than that. Having trained Selwady, veteran fighter Hashem Arkhaga was instrumental with his win.
The latter also advocated for his fellow Jordanian, Thabet Agha by asserting that a repeat with Mohammad Fakhreddine will most likely go in Agha’s favor. Lastly, Hashem Arkhaga confirmed that he is overcoming his injury, but has no idea when he will be back in the cage.
As always, stay tuned for some exclusive novelty transcripts from your favorite Arab fighters.