UAE Warriors 59: Arabia vs. Africa (also known as UAEW 59: Hussein vs. Yahia) is a mixed martial arts event promoted by UAE Warriors that will take place on June 12, 2025 at the Space42 Arena in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
Fight Card
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Bantamweight Abdul Hussein vs. Sami Yahia
Middleweight Islem Masraf vs. Diego Bandu
Catchweight (159 lb) Abdulla Al Bousheiri vs. Anicet Kanyeba
Welterweight Omran Chaaban vs. Gunther Kalunda Ngunza
Featherweight Ilias Bulaid vs. Rebin Fazil Ahmad
Middleweight Siyaku Dumiso Nomvemve vs. Khaled Laallam
Middleweight Mohamed Eldeeb vs. Mohammed Salah
Featherweight Amer El Shanshory vs. Ananias Mulumba
Lightweight Abood AlQaisi vs. Lawrence Mukiibi
Catchweight (130 lb) Abdel Hafid Bendari vs. Flobater Fares
Welterweight Fahad Eltahawy vs. Elias Farah
Women's Bantamweight Lisa Zimmo vs. Chaymae Boudik
Catchweight (139 lb) Lewis Mataya vs. Mahmoud Abd El Raouf
Background
A bantamweight bout between Abdul Hussein and Sami Yahia is scheduled to headline the event.
Abdul ‘King’ Hussein 12-2 PAL in FIN vs Sami ‘The Sayajin’ Yahia ALG in FRA
Hussein is a superb submission fighter, turning pro in 2016 after a truly sensational undefeated amateur career in which he became both the IMMAF World and European Champ. His only losses have been to the Honey Badger and Muhammad Mokaev, the latter with whom he took the distance, but in UAE Warriors he remains undefeated. Taking a first-round tap from Mahmoud Abd El Raouf on debut, and following that up with a second-round TKO of Samota two months later, his most recent victory with us was in Al Ain with a second-round bulldog choke against Eduardo Mora.
Now for his fourth fight in Warriors he shares the main event with fellow grappler, Team Evolution’s Yahia, who in his Warriors debut in ‘22 also lost to Abzakh. An Algerian fighting out of Marseille he is undefeated since that loss and continues to display a massive repertoire of chokes and joint locks but also is an absolute handful on the feet with power hook/body kick combos. Highly experienced with nine years in professional MMA, he has lost just one fight out of his past nine and will be happy to engage Hussein in all axes. Superb main event to finish a quality fight card.
MW Islem ‘Lightning’ Masraf 3-1 ALG in FRA vs Diego ‘Pangaman’ Bandu 5-2 DRC in RSA
Masraf is a highly-touted Toulouse-based Algerian training out of Classic Fighting Center. The southpaw went viral last year with a stunning 10-second headkick knockout of Mickael Groguhe in PFL who he faced on short notice, that finish and others in Ares and Dynamite earned him a DWCS spot late last year in which he was handed his first loss. This is his first fight back since then, with the firm intention to remain on the hunt for a UFC contract.
Bandu is back after his close decision loss to Laallam last year, one of only two who Khaled couldn’t finish. In fact, ‘Pangaman’ (Panga being an African machete) has never once been finished but has a couple of top-notch first round KO’s, preferring to scramble away from the grappling exchanges to stay on his feet. This is despite the well-regarding grappling program at CIT in Pretoria, where he is perhaps better known as Dricus du Plessis’s main training partners. Alternating wins and losses the past few years, he needs to find some consistency and rhythm to live up to his teammate’s reputation, which is something that his abilities can definitely provide. These are two powerful strikers who prefer to keep it standing and look for the early stoppage.
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