Tag: ufc

I’m a huge UFC fan so I was excited to find out that Claudio Silva, the head coach at the local training facility Combat Athletics will be fighting on the UFC 201 card this coming July. Claudio is currently on an 11 fight win streak with the last two wins taking place in the UFC. Due to a bit of bad luck last year (he broke both his feet), he had to take a break from fighting so that he could recover. Now that he’s healed up he’s heading back to the UFC and will be facing off against the tough Siyar Bahadurzada.

Claudio is currently in London until the end of the month before he heads to Miami for his 8 week fight camp with American Top Team. ATT is one of the top MMA camps that currently trains a bunch of popular fighters like current UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler as well as UFC fighters Hector Lombard, Junior Dos Santos and Glover Teixeira amongst a ton of others.

Now the cool part about all of this is that Claudio will be carrying the Kuwaiti flag with him at the weigh-ins and during his walkout to the cage on fight night. If he wins I’m assuming he’ll also have it on him during the winners announcement. Should be a great fight and I’m looking forward to seeing Claudio walkout with the Kuwaiti flag while Joe Rogan tries to guess which country it’s from. UFC 201 will be held on July 30th and I’ll be posting a reminder a day or two before. If you’d like to support Claudio you can do so by following him on instagram where he’ll be sharing pictures and videos from his fight camp @claudiohannibalsilva

This post is for the MMA fans here. A few years ago I posted a clip from Warriors War, a middleweight MMA tournament that took place in Kuwait back in 2001 and involved the likes of Matt Hughes, Bruce Buffer and Big John McCarthy. I was pretty surprised back then that I hadn’t heard of this tournament before but Ray Elbe sent me a link to an article a few days back that discusses the event in full details. Turns out it was a complete mess from an organizing stand point which should be no surprise but there was also a scheme to rig some of the fights. If you’re an MMA fan you’re going to find this enjoyable to read, check out the article [Here]

For those of you who watch the UFC you’ll be interested to know that the PRIDE legend and UFC fighter Wanderlei Silva will be in Kuwait next month for a seminar. Although he’s currently serving a lifetime ban from the sport for refusing to submit to a drug test, he’s still a legend and I’d be excited to see him here. Come to think of it, fight fans in Kuwait are pretty lucky since we’ve gotten a good share of UFC legends come to Kuwait so far including Anderson Silva and Royce Gracie. For more info on the Wanderlei event, click [Here]

Update: The seminar cost is KD60 for 2 days and its KD25 for a photo/autograph. Also it seems the lifetime ban was overturned in May.

One of my favorite UFC fighters, the legendary Anderson Silva is coming to Kuwait this weekend for the opening ceremony of Gold’s Gym. This caught me by complete surprise when I found out and I have no idea how they managed to pull it off. I was lucky enough to be put in touch with the organizers Activate Kuwait (Thanks Pat), the same guys who brought the BASE jumper to Kuwait to jump off Al Hamra Tower. I managed to get myself a VIP ticket to the event as well as a ticket to giveaway on the blog.

There will be a bunch of activites taking place at the opening including:
– Live radio broadcast on FM88.8
– Spin the wheel game with valuable prizes to be won
– DJ
– Bike show
– Percussion artist Albert Boyadjian will be performing
– Anderson Silva will meet and greet people

The event is open to the public but the general admission crowd will be located outside the Gold’s Gym premises while the VIP ticket (which you can’t buy FYI) will grant you access inside the building. The VIP ticket will allow you to hang out and chill with Anderson Silva inside the gym as well as guarantee you a photo with Anderson Silva as well as an autograph if you want one.

Just incase I wasn’t clear, ANDERSON SILVA IS COMING TO KUWAIT! I’m definitely going to have him sign my UFC tshirt which so far has signatures from Dan Henderson, Brian Stan, Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping and a few other fighters.

If you’re an Anderson Silva fan and would like to win a chance to meet him then all you need to do is answer the following question in the comments: Who did Anderson Silva last fight in the UFC?

Rules: The comments will be closed tomorrow morning. Winner will have to pick up ticket from Salmiya. Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will be contacted by email. If winner doesn’t respond, another winner will be randomly chosen.

Update: Post has been closed for commenting

Update2: Using random.org I chose a winner which was commentator #57, Tania. Email has been sent, if she does not respond in time a second winner will be chosen. Thank you everyone for participating. Just a reminder you can still pass by and get the chance to see Anderson Silva in person but, depending on the amount of people at the event, you may or may not get a chance for a photo opportunity with him.

Three UFC fighters are in Kuwait for the next few days to support the US troops. Matt Brown, Mike Pierce and CB Dollaway arrived last night along with 2013 ADCC grappling champion Joao Assis. This isn’t the first time UFC fighters have come to Kuwait to support the troops and I believe it’s Mike Pierce’s second time since he came back in 2012. If anyone knows where they are staying let me know, I would love to get my UFC tshirt signed by Matt Brown. So far my shirt has signatures from Dan Henderson, Brian Stan, Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping and a few other fighters.

Thanks Ray

For those of you who are UFC fans, this past Thursday the UFC Fight Pass became available in 178 countries one of which is Kuwait. This means you can now sign up to it and watch some of their live events like the Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa which takes place later today. Keep in mind not all UFC events will be available on UFC Fight Pass so it’s not an alternative to Abu Dhabi Sports. Here is the link if you want to sign up to Fight Pass [Link]

For those of you who are UFC fans you’ll be glad to know that the UFC is planning to come back to Abu Dhabi sometime this year. No exact date has been announced yet but my guess is sometime end of the year. The last UFC fight that was held in the region was back in 2010. [Article]

Since we’re on the subject, in case you missed my old post there’s a Kuwaiti MMA manager that manages a bunch of UFC fighters including Michael Bisping, Matt Mitrione, Uriah Hall, Ross Pearson and Conor McGergor among others. Check out my old post on him [Here]

Update: It’s just been announced, UFC is going back to Abu Dhabi on April 11 and will be headlined by Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Nogueira

@mark248am as of 1st January the UFC has decided leave OSN and we are very disappointed at their decision.

— OSN (@osn) January 21, 2014

This absolutely sucks. I used to love recording live UFC event and then waking up early morning to watch them. It’s the only reason I still had my OSN subscription. Instead, OSN are now getting Bellator which no one wants to watch while the UFC has moved to Abu Dhabi Sports.

Cheick Kongo, Cyrille Diabate, Greg Babene, Mishal Abul

Every now and then I like to highlight Kuwaiti talent and achievements and I believe that Mishal Abul fits the bill. He is a partner at Paradigm Sports Management, a US based company that manages Football, Baseball and MMA athletes. I met Mishal through my blog sometime back and since I’m a huge UFC fan I was shocked to find out he was managing UFC stars like Michael Bisping and Chris Lytle among others.

Mishal was always into combat sports, he wrestled in high school back in the US as well as college. He got into MMA in 1998 because of the UFC and because of his trainer John “The Machine” Lober who was a pioneer of the MMA scene with a background in Jeet Kun Do, Grappling and BJJ. Mishal is probably the first Kuwaiti to train in MMA.

Jake Shields, Mishal Abul, Tareq Azim

I asked him about MMA in the region and if the UFC is considering bring The Ultimate Fighter to the Middle East like how they did TUF Brazil and the upcoming TUF India. This is what he had to say:

MMA is still way too young for the entire Middle East to recognize it, understand it and accept it. Fighting from a professional position is already here with Karate, Boxing, Muay Thai now they need to learn MMA, the best form of martial arts. There are already some locals or in the region who have trained and are becoming teachers.

Sending TUF to the Middle East is in the plans but not right now that’s because the mentality of the population within the Middle East is not the same as elsewhere with a history of combat sports which usually belongs to other large countries where it would boom immediately like Brazil, Russia and parts of Asia. But, I do believe the Middle East as a whole has some huge potential of breeding the best MMA competitors in the world. Parts of the Middle East strongly train in Karate, some other parts in wrestling or even Judo. Countries like Iran who are naturally strong could develop some amazing wrestlers which is the best base to begin with to enter MMA.

As a UFC fan I think it’s very cool to have a Kuwaiti managing UFC fighters. If you want to find out more about Paradigm Sports Management you can visit their website [Here]