ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish martial arts champion Namo Fazil told Rudaw on Tuesday that his primary objective in combat sports is to compete in and win the US-based Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), adding that he plans to enter the fighting octagon with the Kurdistan flag draped over his shoulders.
“My ultimate goal is to bag the UFC, and I will fight there next,” Fazil told Saman WllatZheri in an interview, adding that he will be the first Kurd to enter the championship with the Kurdish flag.
“That is exactly how I will walk in,” he vowed.
He secured a second-round submission victory over his American opponent, Jake Babineau, improving his professional record to 10-1 and further cementing his status as a rising international combat sports contender and a prominent representative of Kurdish identity on the world stage.
Fazil is currently signed with Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), a global organization competing for market share with the UFC. He consistently drapes himself in the Kurdistan flag while walking down the entrance ramp before fights and again after securing victories.
“Once, when I was in Germany, a Lebanese man asked me where I was from. I said Kurdistan. He replied, ‘Ah, you are just people [without a country].’ Those words felt like a knife to my heart. Right then and there, I resolved to raise the Kurdistan flag [in tournaments],” Fazil said, explaining the motivation behind carrying the Kurdish flag with him into the fighting cage.
Fazil immigrated from his hometown in the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province to Europe, where he developed an interest in combat sports at the age of 15.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani received the Kurdish champion on Monday, congratulating him on his victories and reaffirming his support for the Region’s youth and athletes.
“It was a great honor for me,” the MMA champion told Rudaw, referring to his meeting with the Kurdish leader.