The main event had been over for a couple of hours and the fans had long since wandered back to their cars, but Garry Cook had more news to impart.
The regional director of the Ultimate Fighting Championship trotted out some impressive attendance and broadcast viewing figures from Friday's rollicking UFC Fight Night 39 in Abu Dhabi, including a head count of 7,963 at the du Arena, an outdoor venue.
Just as fans had waited four years between UFC visits, being patient had its virtues. Shortly after 1am Saturday morning, Cook then noted that discussions with local officials this week had been fruitful and he all but guaranteed that the next visit from the travelling UFC troupe will be sooner, not later.
“It’s highly likely that this time next year, we’ll be having this conversation again,” Cook said.
Standing at the podium in the post-fight news conference, surrounded by fighters and other UFC officials, the statement drew applause from several listeners, trainers and their charges.
Better still, Cook said discussions have taken place about launching a Middle Eastern version of the UFC’s developmental television series The Ultimate Fighter, which he described as a crucial “catalyst” to the grassroots growth of the emerging sport in new areas.
“As far as I’m concerned, the UAE had one heck of a show,” Cook said.
There had been doubts in the early moments. Pre-sale ticket sales were tepid, but strong walk-up demand effectively filled the arena in the final hours.
The first match ended in a double-disqualification in the first round, when the two fighters butted heads, ending in a no-contest being declared.
“It got off to kind of a weird start,” Cook said. “This whole thing is kind of unpredictable.”
Equal parts colour and combat, it fast became obvious why fans have gravitated towards the hybrid sport, which mixes martial arts and mayhem in equal doses. It also helps to have glib sports figures who can stir the pot.
American Clay Guida, after winning his featherweight bout with Tatsuya Kawajiri, called out Irish featherweight Conor McGregor, whom he called a “leprechaun”.
There was no pot of gold awaiting McGregor at the end of the rainbow if he fights Guida, just a “chest hair sandwich and a mullet”, the American fighter promised. The crowd erupted in laughter.
As for California-born Ramsey Nijem, he had the fans eating out of his hand, too. A fighter with Palestinian roots, he said over the stadium public-address system that he wanted to bring a title to the fans of the Middle East after he knocked out previously undefeated Beneil Dariush, who has roots in Iran.
Predictably, it generated one of the biggest cheers of the night. As for whether it was a spontaneous outburst or a savvy public-relations strike, the University of Utah graduate all but winked afterwards and said: “Well, my college degree is in marketing.”
It is likely that Nijem will be part of any future UAE card, because he can engender crucial local support, if not serve as an ambassador for the Arab region. Bring it on, he said.
“I really approached this fight like a title fight, being a Palestinian-American coming into the UAE, fighting,” he said. “It’s a lot of pressure that can weigh on you as an athlete, but I really want to represent Palestinian people, the Arab people, the whole Middle East, in a good light.
“There’s always, in the news, the negative this and that, the fighting, the warring. I want to show that we’re more than that and that we’re a strong people.”
Strength was a recurring theme on the UFC card. In the main event, heavyweight Roy Nelson hammered UFC warhorse Antonio Nogueira with a trio of crushing right hands, knocking him out with 1:18 left in the first round. It was not the fight that some expected.
“[The fight] was a little shorter than I expected,” Nelson deadpanned, drawing laughs from the audience.
Given the fan feedback and signals from organisation officials, the wait for the next UFC iteration should not be long either.
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Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
Kat Wightman's tips on how to create zones in large spaces
- Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
- Lighting can help define areas. Try pendant lighting over dining tables, and side and floor lamps in living areas.
- Keep the colour palette the same in a room, but combine different tones and textures in different zone. A common accent colour dotted throughout the space brings it together.
- Don’t be afraid to use furniture to break up the space. For example, if you have a sofa placed in the middle of the room, a console unit behind it will give good punctuation.
- Use a considered collection of prints and artworks that work together to form a cohesive journey.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs: 2017 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali
Price, base / as tested Dh207,846 / Dh220,000
Engine 6.2L V8
Transmission Eight-speed automatic
Power 420hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque 624Nm @ 4,100rpm
Fuel economy, combined 13.5L / 100km
