UAE

Getting to grips with UFC language

Arabic ears may not be accustomed to hearing translations for such brutal fight moves as the "triangle choke hold", the "clinch" or the "arm bar" technique.

Matt Kwong

March 22, 2010

  • English
  • Arabic

ABU DHABI // Arabic ears may not be accustomed to hearing translations for such brutal fight moves as the "triangle choke hold", the "clinch" or the "arm bar" technique. But come April 10, Mohammed al Housani will have to express those and other devastating manoeuvres in Arabic for the first time, at the Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) Invincible Abu Dhabi bout. As the sport's exclusive Arabic colour commentator, Mr al Housani, a 25-year-old Emirati, will take a seat alongside the event's official play-by-play analysts, Americans Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg. The distinction of being selected to take "the best seat in the house", inches from the combatants in the caged Octagon, was not lost on Mr al Housani. He has followed mixed martial arts (MMA) events for more than a decade. "Really it's like a fairy tale for me because I've been watching Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg do it for a long time, and now I'm an announcer," he said today. "There's nobody who can fill the Arabic role and I feel that the English language population is more familiar with the sport than the Arabic speakers, so it's important for me to develop the sport of MMA in the Arabic region by speaking the language."

Finding his voice will not be an overwhelming challenge; Mr al Housani is an experienced jiu-jitsu analyst. He has broadcast in Arabic for Abu Dhabi Sports TV matches as well as last year's inaugural World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Cup. "I'm direct. I call it down the middle," he said of his style. "A lot of people are calling me the Joe Rogan of the UAE, or even the 'Mohammed Rogan', but hopefully I'll be myself with my own style and bring something different." He expects the trickiest aspect to be explaining the mechanics of what MMA fighters refer to as the "ground game", when fighters take each other to the mat to try to knock each other out, or "ground and pound". "As soon as the fighters go to the ground, if you show that to any casual viewer, they either make fun of them because of the position, or they're completely clueless because they think they're just stalling," Mr al Housani said. "People understand kickboxing and boxing, but I'll need to explain the ground game." A student of jiu-jitsu for three years, Mr al Housani has trained with MMA pros and legends such as Royce Gracie, Rolles Gracie, Daniel Gracie, Jean Jacques Machado and Rafael Mendes, the 2009 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Champion. UFC and its promoters, Flash Entertainment, selected Mr al Housani as the Arabic analyst after he auditioned and submitted a CD of his interviews and colour commentary from jiu-jitsu tournaments. Apart from introducing the UFC's first Arabic announcer, the Invincible event also makes history by being the first open-air bout and the first UFC event in the Middle East. Arabic is not the first non-English language for the sport; commentary has been conducted before in Spanish and French. "Hopefully I'll represent my people well, the region well, and get people exposed to this sport," Mr al Housani said. UFC 112: Invincible will take place at a custom-built all-seat arena outside Ferrari World on Yas Island. Tickets are available from www.boxofficeme.com and the UFC stand at Marina Mall. Upper grandstand seats have already sold out.

mkwong@thenational.ae

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

What is the FNC?

The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning. 
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval. 
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
 

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Transgender report

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.”

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