Dubai: Gokhan Saki has made Dubai his home for the past year with a single aim in mind: to prove beyond doubt that he is the best in the world.

In April last year, Saki ‘The Rebel’ was crowned the inaugural Glory Light Heavyweight Champion in his native Turkey when he disposed of Australia’s Nathan Corbett in the semi-finals and then Tyrone Spong in the final of Glory 15: Istanbul – Light Heavyweight World Championship Tournament.

After that triumph, the 31-year-old Saki headed straight to Dubai and got himself into training mode after signing up with Prince Amir Shafipour’s Global Fighting Championship (GFC-3) to be held at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on April 17.

Presented by Golden Cage Promotion and Events, the GFC-3 is a series of fights involving some of the best athletes from the world of Mixed Martial Arts, Kickboxing and Muay Thai.

Saki’s opponent will be Romania’s ‘Son of Dracula’ Sebastian Ciobanu, who won on unanimous decision against Enver Sljivar and drew with Jallon Corentin in his last two fights in the Superkombat World Grand Prix within a couple of months on home soil last year.

Saki is a two-time Dutch and European Muay Thai champion and the first Turkish fighter to hold a K-1 tournament title. He is current Glory light heavyweight champion. As of November last year, Saki is ranked No.1 light heavyweight in the world.

“I am here to win this one. I have been training here for the past few months with this objective of winning against Seb [Ciobanu]. I certainly don’t want the fight to go the distance. I want it over as soon as possible,” Saki told Gulf News as he took a break at The Champion Club.

“I’ve got my coach coming in from the US and I start my first training at 4am. I am willing to put myself through all this pain with this one aim in mind. I want to win my first fight with GFC,” he added.

With Saki versus Ciobanu headlining the night, the foursome of Steve McKinnon, Zabit Samedov, Jafar Ahmadi and Danyo Ilunga will battle it out for the winner-takes-all prize purse of Dh1 million.

Backed by the Dubai Sports Council (DSC), further undercards on the night will see Fatih Ulusoy taking on Esmail Lazaar and Andre Meunier facing Naoufal Benazzouz.

“These are some of the best fighters in the world. At the moment I have 16 heavyweight fighters in my camp and this has helped us keep our promise of having only the best in the business,” GFC’s Prince Amir said.

GFC-1 saw Morocco’s Badr Hari win the title, while GFC-2 had Esmail Lazaar crowned champion last year. “Once GFC-3 is over, we will be straight on for GFC-4 in May,” Prince Amir said.