LONDON: For more than a decade, Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady has — quite literally — been flying the flag for Palestine in the world of professional mixed martial arts.
His nickname, “The Pride of Palestine,” speaks to his roots and why “alam Filastin” can be seen draped over his shoulders before and after each fight.
The Middle East has shaped Al-Selwady, 29, as a person and fighter. His professional career began in the Desert Force and Brave promotions, in Jordan and Bahrain respectively.
On Feb. 1 in Riyadh, he fights in the region for the first time in five years, a rare Arab face in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. At UFC Fight Night 250, Al-Selwady (15-4-0) opens the card against Belgium’s Bolaji Oki (9-2-0).
And while he now lives and trains in Dallas, Texas, the Palestinian-American fighter is expecting the bout to feel like a homecoming.
“Honestly, it’s a very beautiful feeling fighting in the Middle East,” Al-Selwady told Arab News. “It’s almost like you’re fighting at home. Even though I haven’t lived in the region for a long time, I know people are going to be cheering for me and I plan to deliver that big win in front of my people.
“There aren’t that many Arab fighters that are actually from the Middle East who really made a big name in the UFC. Some guys have Arab origins but never actually lived in the region, but it is where I started my MMA career.”
As he does in every fight, Al-Selwady will take to the ring holding a Palestinian flag, with trunks likely some combination of green, white, red and black. He feels strongly that as an athlete he has a duty to remind the world about the struggles of the Palestinian people.
“I’ve represented Palestine throughout my career and it’s a beautiful responsibility,” Al-Selwady explained. “It’s a beautiful weight to carry on your shoulders because you feel almost like you’re leading and your people are watching.
“It gives me such motivation and really does fuel me because anytime you’re feeling like you’re going through something, you look at the people that you’re representing. It fuels me to go through all of the pain and to come out as a winner.
“They’re the real fighters out there. They’re my heroes, they’re my inspiration. It just pushes me to work harder harder because I choose to go through the fighting, the weight cuts, the discomfort. They don’t choose to be under genocide. But that’s their situation just because of who they are and where they live.”
The contest with Oki in Riyadh will be his first fight since the recent ceasefire in Gaza, following 18 months of bombardment.
“It’s a great announcement,” Al-Selwady said. “We’ve been waiting for it since the day this started so it makes me really happy. It will be nice for people to be able to take a breath after so long. I hope to give the Palestinian people a victory, though I always say that winning a fight is great, but the more important fight is still going on.”
Al-Selwady’s contest will be extra special because for the first time in five years he will have his father in his corner. The father-son combination was a regular fixture during Al-Selwady’s MMA career in the Gulf, but has been a rarer sight in recent years as he has fought mostly in the US and Europe.
“In Saudi this is going to be the first time my dad will be cornering me in a long time,” Al-Selwady said with a smile. “My family, especially when I lived in the Middle East, were very invested in my career. My mom was basically my nutritionist, and my dad was my coach.
“We did every single training session together. He would film every session that I did on tape and then review it, and then he would study tape of my opponents too.
“Even now, we have a shared folder and I upload my weekly sparrings, and he’s always giving me advice on how I can improve. I guess you could call it a family business.”
That family business began when Al-Selwady was a teenager. He recalls being “a really high-energy kid” who was “always getting into trouble.” A natural athlete, he dabbled in baseball and football but it was when broadcasts of the UFC and Strikeforce were on TV that he was left most transfixed.
“When I first saw MMA, I knew that it was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Al-Selwady said. “I was smart in school and got good grades but I was never going to be a doctor or an engineer. I always wanted to be a professional MMA fighter.”
Al-Selwady started with kickboxing and then became a sparring partner for some fighters in the Desert Force MMA promotion in Jordan. He made his first Desert Force appearance at 10 days’ notice as a 17-year-old, winning by technical knockout.
“They were really surprised at how good I was, how aggressive; and how even if I was getting caught in submissions, I would get right back up and say, ‘let’s go some more.’ I trained so hard and God just set everything up for me to take my place the way I did.
“MMA has just grown so much since then. Back when I started, I was one of the first active MMA fighters in the Middle East; now I’m one of the last ones going. There are just a few of us left who started at that time and are still going strong right now.”
After building a reputation over more than a decade, Al-Selwady finally made his debut last year in the UFC, widely regarded as the pinnacle MMA promotion. The Jordan-born grappler fought valiantly but lost a roller-coaster contest to Loik Radzhabov.
“Feeling bad after losing isn’t going to change anything and, honestly, the way I lost, I learned so much from it,” Al-Selwady said philosophically. “It actually gave me even more confidence in myself than before.
“Most of the fights that I’ve won before, I was winning the whole time but in this one I had to fight through adversity in the beginning of the fight. I came back from that and then I was winning but let go of the gas pedal in the third round because I felt confident. Then he just leaped in and caught me.
“It was definitely a lesson for me, like God reminding me that I could do it, I was there, but then I got a little too cocky. You have to focus second by second because I looked at him and I smirked in the third round like … ‘that’s it, we’re done.’ But we weren’t done.”
Al-Selwady put that defeat behind him by beating Amin Ayoub last May by unanimous decision in the Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship’s ADXC 4 event. In Riyadh, he returns to the UFC and faces a late addition to the card in Oki; his original opponent Daniel Leavitt dropped out, though he is in talks to rebook the fight for April.
With his sights now firmly set on the first UFC victory of an impressive MMA career, Al-Selwady is in confident mood and guarantees that he will put on a show for those in the Saudi capital, and the millions watching at home.
“I don’t train for fights, I train to be a better fighter and I train to be a better person,” Al-Selwady said. “I’m focused on getting the job done and I’m really excited to get back in there.
“Since the day I started fighting until now, I’ve never had a boring fight. Ever. And I don’t ever plan to. I’m not a boring fighter and I’m not a boring person, even outside of fighting. I always keep things interesting.
“Whether you’re an MMA fan or not, this fight will catch your attention. It is the first fight of the night, and it will be the fight of the night.”
