DUBAI: On May 24, the Professional Fighters League brings its first Middle East North Africa regional event of the year to Dubai's Coca-Cola Arena, and the story behind that choice says a lot about where Arab MMA is heading.
The card is called “Pride of Arabia,” and the name was deliberate. The original plan was to hold the season opener in Alkhobar on May 8, under the name “Rise of the Gulf,” with a card built around Eastern Province talent.
When the conflict in the region forced a postponement in April, the promotion moved the event and rebuilt the story around Dubai. The result is a card that represents 11 nationalities, all of whom either live in or have strong ties to the UAE.
“Dubai is a key market for PFL MENA and a global hub for sport and entertainment, making it the ideal stage for our 2026 season opener,” PFL MENA General Manager Jerome Mazet said.
“Dubai has consistently shown its passion for MMA, and we are excited to bring local stars like Mohammad Yahya and Zamzam Al-Hammadi to perform in front of a home crowd.”
Dubai and the wider UAE did not become a combat sports hub by accident. It traces back to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who encountered Brazilian jiu-jitsu while studying in the US after watching the inaugural UFC event in 1993.
He returned to Abu Dhabi, established the Abu Dhabi Combat Club, and in 1998 launched the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship, now considered one of the most prestigious grappling competitions on the planet.
From that foundation, jiu-jitsu became woven into the fabric of UAE society. In 2008, the Abu Dhabi Education Council made the sport part of the curriculum in 14 public schools.
By 2016, the program had expanded to over 130 schools, with more than 76,000 students participating. It is taught from grades six to 12, and the program runs internal school competitions all the way up to world championship finals.
That groundwork shapes the fanbase PFL MENA will encounter in the UAE.
Mazet said in a recent interview: “It comes from the sport of jiu-jitsu. Jiu-jitsu is taught in school. You start at 6 or 8 years old, so there’s a real culture of it. In France, after class, you go play football. Here, it’s fighting or combat sports.”
The demographics reinforce this further. The Gulf countries are among the youngest populations in the world by median age. Saudi Arabia and the UAE both have a significant majority of their resident population under 35.
MMA consistently ranks as one of the top sports globally for that age bracket, and the combination of the young population and deep martial arts culture means MMA was not going to stay niche here for long.
The main event at “Pride of Arabia” features Yahya, the 31-year-old Emirati featherweight known as “The UAE Warrior,” against Tunisia’s Mehdi Saadi. Yahya carries a history that is worth understanding. He built his name at UAE Warriors and became the first Emirati to sign with the UFC.
The story Mazet tells about Yahya speaks to something PFL MENA is trying to solve structurally. “When you look at his fights and his results and the opponents he had in the UFC, it feels like there was a missing step,” Mazet said.
“And that missing step is us. Let’s assemble the best of the region, the ones who have fought, the ones who have earned titles, the ones who maybe went to France or the UK to fight under a different flag because they didn’t have that middle step.”
The co-main event pitches Morocco’s Salah Eddine Hamli, who came through the 2025 PFL MENA season unbeaten and won the lightweight title in December, against Algeria's Ylies Djiroun. Hamli’s 2025 run is exactly the kind of regional narrative the promotion has been building toward.
One of the most significant indicators of what PFL MENA represents in the region can be seen in the trajectories of two female fighters.
Hattan Alsaif from Saudi Arabia became the first woman from the Kingdom to sign with a major global MMA promotion when PFL announced her contract in January 2024. She came from Muay Thai, having won gold at the 2023 IFMA World Championships and at the World Combat Games.
She made her amateur debut at PFL MENA 1 in Riyadh in May 2024, knocking out Nada Faheem in the second round, the first-ever women’s amateur atomweight bout on a MENA card.
When Alsaif steps into the cage, something shifts in the crowd. “When she’s in the cage, she’s a whole different animal,” Mazet said. “That’s where the fans go crazy, and not just the women. A lot of kids and a lot of men love Hattan because when she’s in the cage, she makes them proud.”
Zamzam Al-Hammadi, 18, is the next figure in that line. She is an Emirati, and her record in combat sports before turning professional is exceptional. She won the IMMAF Youth World Championship in 2023, becoming the first Emirati woman to do so alongside her sister Ghala.
Al-Hammadi added an Asian gold medal and a second IMMAF Youth World Championship in 2024. Her grappling resume includes titles from the Abu Dhabi World Pro Championship, Jiu-Jitsu World Championship, and Abu Dhabi Grand Slam. She signed with PFL MENA in April 2025 and will compete in an amateur showcase bout at “Pride of Arabia.”
“When we sign somebody like Zamzam, we don’t sign her to tick a box,” Mazet said. “She is a three-time world champion in the IMMAF youth category. She has earned her spot here. She is absolutely legitimate.”
He described seeing two distinct sides of this type of fighter. “Outside the cage, she’s an 18-year-old who is in school or university, lives with her mum, and is in a stage of transition in her life. What will be even more interesting is who she is inside the cage.”
The signing also drew attention from outside the fight world. Al-Hammadi was a speaker at the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit in Riyadh in 2025.
“I want to be one of the best to ever step foot inside the PFL,” she said. “I want to become a champion, and I want to be able to inspire young athletes, young girls.”
The promotion has been working with the Saudi MMA Federation to develop local inspectors, judges, and referees. It has built a fully regional medical team.
As Mazet put it: “It’s really not just bringing the fights. It’s building the ecosystem around it that will make this industry sustainable.”
