Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady hopes to fulfill big dream of fighting at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi
Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady already made one dream a reality by earning a UFC contract. Now he wants to realize another.
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Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady already made one dream a reality. Now he wants to realize another.
A big underdog against Cage Warriors champion George Hardwick at Dana White’s Contender Series 58 last Tuesday, Al-Selwady (15-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) impressed when he defeated the highly touted Brit by unanimous decision to earn a UFC contract.
It’s been a longtime coming for the 28-year-old Fortis MMA fighter, who never gave up on his UFC hope. Now, Palestine’s Al-Selwady would love to make his octagon debut in front of his home fans in the Middle East by competing at UFC 294 on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi.
“If the UFC calls me any day now or any week now for Abu Dhabi, I will take that call,” Al-Selwady told MMA Junkie. “I will accept it because UFC Abu Dhabi is the biggest event of the year. It’s my dream. My dream is to get into the UFC, win my first fight in the UFC, eventually fight at UFC Abu Dhabi. So, if I could get all of those dreams right away, why not? Why would I have to wait until October next year if I could just do it now?”
Al-Selwady, a former BRAVE CF lightweight champion, has competed in various countries in the Middle East such as Jordan, Abu Dhabi, and Bahrain.
If he was to get the opportunity to fight in Abu Dhabi for the UFC, “The Pride of Palestine” expects plenty of support.
“I fought in Abu Dhabi before, and I’ve fought in the Middle East in other shows, so just imagine if I fought for the UFC in Abu Dhabi,” Al-Selwady said. “I forgot to mention this to Dana, but I have people that bought their tickets to Abu Dhabi from June. Literally, like they were telling me, ‘Hey, Abdul, no pressure, but I bought my tickets to UFC Abu Dhabi because you’re going to be on that card after you win on the Contender Series and they sign you to the UFC.’
“I was like, ‘Yo, leave me alone, I’m not focused on that right now. I just have to focus on the next fight.’ So, it’s not just one or two friends. I have multiple people that already bought their tickets to Abu Dhabi for those dates. Not that that’s my priority for them, but there’s already a lot of people that believe in me to book their tickets before I even got in. So just imagine now with me being in, what them booking me a fight in Abu Dhabi, if that’s going to happen. I just can’t imagine what kind of support there would be, and I’d love to do that.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 294.