UAE fighter Mohammed Yahy all set for debut at DFC Fight Night

All eyes will be on Emirati fighter Mohammed Yahy on Friday night as he makes his amateur debut at the Dubai Fighting Championships (DFC) Fight Night.

Yahy will be among the 14 relatively unknown local fighters putting their bodies on the line as MMA takes centre stage at the Habtoor Grand Beach Resort in Dubai Marina.

Yahy, “a young fighter with immense talent”, according to prominent local MMA journalist Ali Mokdad, will be looking to put on a show for his home crowd as he takes on Lebanese lightweight Mohammad Al Ghafferi.

Mokdad believes Yahy has all the attributes needed to become a success inside the octagon. “He’s an impressive fighter. He’s got great Jiu-jitsu skills and is a good striker, so I’m pretty excited to see him fight,” said Mokdad. “Because of his background and because he is a local fighter all eyes are going to be on him.

“There is just something about an Emirati fighter that just captures us. We want to see them succeed because at the end of the day we are all guests in the UAE.”

DFC ‘Fight Night’ is the brainchild of Tam Khan, owner of Contender MMA Training Facility in Dubai, and follows on from the successful staging of DFC 1 last month.

But whereas emphasis of that event was to showcase a collection of professional, international fighters, including former UFC star Ricco Rodriguez, ‘Fight Night’ is all about the local talent.

“Think of it like the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter,” said Mokdad. “It’s about creating a platform for these talented young guys to go and show what they can do.

“You have to pay your dues at Fight Night to get on the undercards of our main events where we look to get the international names and more of the bigger local fighters.”

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