Dubai braced for Global Fighting Championships
Second edition of event will see two parallel tournaments leading to final
Dubai: Golden Cage Promotions and Events, organisers of the Global Fighting Championships 2, are expecting a full house when the action gets under way on Friday at Hall 5 of the Dubai World Trade Centre.
For the first time ever, there will be two tournaments running parallel to each other — interspersed with five fights in the Super Light division starting from 7 pm on May 10.
One of the two tournaments will be run as per A1 Rules and the other will be a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competition. The winners of the two tournaments will compete for the best fighter of the night, who will then travel to participate as a contender for the top prize of $100,000 (Dh367,210) at the 2013 A1 Grand Prix to be held in Melbourne in December.
“At the end, there will be just one winner who will be in the running for the top prize of $100,000 [Dhs 367,000] that will be decided at the end of the year,” Amir ‘Prince’ Shafiy Pour told media at the pre-tournament press conference in Dubai.
Prince Amir, as he is popularly known for his prowess in the cage as a fighter, was undeterred with the staging of another fight night at the Madinat Jumeirah the same day.
“I feel having such fights will be good for the UAE and the sport as it means there are more people who are interested in attending. Such things can only be of immense benefit,” he noted.
The Dubai Fighting Championship is gearing up for its DFC4 fight night at the Madinat Arena, Mina A’Salam, also on Friday.
“It really doesn’t matter to us that they are having their own show on the same night. We always welcome competition. Maybe we could have achieved more success without a second fight championship at the same time. But I believe we are more structured with an eye on the future,” Prince Amir said.
“We are focused on putting up a series of fights during the course of a year and a half. Ours is not a one-off event. We’ve paid a deposit and booked the Dubai World Trade Centre for a series of five fight nights and we are investing for the future of this sport in league with the Dubai Sports Council,” he added.
The GFC2 is being held in association with the International Boxing Association (IBA) and Dubai Sports Council (DSC).
