UAE Warriors reveal expansion plans to make organisation a 'global brand'

Double header at Space 42 Arena marks start of Abu Dhabi promotion's schedule for growth

Fouad Darwish, CEO & Managing Director of Palms Sports. Vidhyaa Chandrmohan for The National

The UAE Warriors management has drawn up an ambitious plan to stage events across the region for the first time as they prepare to expand their regional and global presence in the next five years.

They kick-start the 2025 calendar with a double header, the 56th and 57th editions, at the Space 42 Arena in Abu Dhabi on January 16 and 17.

Fouad Darwish, CEO and managing director of Palms Sports who manage the UAE Warriors, believes 2025 will be a turning point as the promotion aims to stage two fight cards in the Gulf region before moving to Europe and then the United States.

“The plan is to host our first two overseas events in two Arab cities and then spread it across the region before taking it to Europe and the US, perhaps in 2030,” Darwish told The National.

“We should be in the States in another five years. Some say it's too long. No, it's not too long. We've got to be cognizant of what it takes to become a global brand.

“How long did people look at UFC to be the leading brand, and they know it took more than 25 years. It took them ups and downs, it took them failures and wins. It wasn’t an easy task.”

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  Samuel Bark on the attack against Ali Al Qaisi during the Swede's UAE Warriors featherweight title victory at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre Marina on Saturday, May 8. Photos: UAE Warriors

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  Samuel Bark with the UAE Warriors featherweight title belt at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

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  Samuel Bark lands a punch during his win over defending champion from Jordan, Ali Al Qaisi.

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  Ali Al Qaisi and Samuel Bark in action during the fight.

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  Samuel Bark and Ali Al Qaisi in action.

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  Tahir Abdulaev after beating Shakhban Alkhasov in their welterweight title fight.

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  Iago Ribeiro takes down Yamato Fujita on his way to victory in the Flyweight title bout.

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  Anelya Toktogonova defeated Elin Oberg via submission in their flyweight bout.

Founded as Abu Dhabi Warriors in 2012, Palms Sports acquired the Abu Dhabi promotion in 2019. Since then, they have moved on to become one of the biggest MMA entities in the region.

Looking back at 2024, Darwish sees it as a year of achievements on many fronts.

“On a professional context, I believe 2024 as one of the best years for Palms Sports,” Darwish added.

“From an achievement standpoint, Palms Sports has begun its journey towards becoming an international symbol of sports and professionalism.

“Today, the sports domain is very complex with so many people claiming to be authorities in different disciplines. But if you ask me, those who best encapsulate sports authorities are those who accomplish less for themselves but avail accomplishments for others.”

Palms Sports began as the technical arm of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation and has now evolved into a multidimensional, multi-service, singular point of contact conglomerate.

Today, Palms Sports is no longer solely associated with jiu-jitsu as the technical and strategic arm of the martial art sport.

The organisation has evolved as a successful business involved in three to four different industries.

“We are in education, and I'm not talking about training jiu-jitsu in education. We actually run schools. We're in security services, we own the second largest security services company in the country, Securiguard,” Darwish added.

“We're in marketing, we're in wholesale, direct trading. We are in fitness and physical fitness outside jiu-jitsu. We own Khabib Gym, the very first gym of MMA legend Khabib Nurmagomodev in the world.

“We have evolved into a multidimensional, multi-sector, multi-industry group. And it did not come out of vagueness.

“We are proudly a member or a company or a subsidiary under the globally acclaimed International Holding Company (IHC), proudly referred to as one of the top 20 largest companies in the world.

“I don't believe many companies have this versatility. We launched jiu-jitsu, we launched the first school jiu-jitsu league, and I believe it's the very first in the world.

“Today, on any given day, we are training more than 120,000 kids in the school zone. We're going to go up to 155,000.

“We definitely are proudly the technical and strategic partner of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation. This year alone would conclude more than 700 competitions.”

However, on a personal front, the year turned out to be surprisingly challenging for Darwish.

“On a personal side, I don't believe I've had a more complex year ever because it was challenging from a personal context, between family and kids growing,” he said.

“Suddenly my young girls are young ladies. I had to worry about their universities. One of them got accepted into a UK University [King's College in medicine]. It was a ferociously fast year.

“That made me realise how much I am involved in my day-to-day work, where time is lapsing without me noticing things that should be more important.

“I’m also blessed and privileged to be a UAE citizen. I arrived in the UAE in 2001 from Toronto, and on day one when I sat for prayers, I said this is home. It’s a dream realised.”

Having seen a challenging yet rewarding 2024, Darwish will be hoping to take UAE Warriors to the global level soon.