Professional Fighters League will be moving its upcoming card
in the Middle East a hop, skip and 800km down the road.
Earlier in April, the organization elected to reschedule its first
PFL MENA card of the year. The show was initially set for the
Dhahran Expo in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, on May 8. On Thursday, it
was bumped to
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for May 24. Additionally, PFL MENA
first event in 2026 has changed its additional title from “Rise of
the Gulf” to “Pride of Arabia,” and it will feature most of the
fights from the initial billing plus a few amateur showcases.
Earlier in the year, the PFL was planning on scaling back its
bantamweight division in the MENA region to run three brackets at
featherweight, lightweight and welterweight. Of those three,
featherweights and lightweights will be having their various
quarterfinal matches, although the current lineup of
PFL MENA 2026 1 only lists two tourney tilts at 145 pounds and
four at lightweight plus an alternate bout. It is unclear if the
promotion will add any more fights to the card as it stands, but it
has reordered the billing itself to shift bouts around and set a
new headliner compared to the one originally pinned for May 8.
The new main attraction will see UAE native Mohammad
Yahya (12-6) debut with the promotion against Mehdi Saadi
(6-2) in a featherweight quarterfinal clash. They were booked on
the main card previously, but perhaps due to change in location,
Yahya-Saadi was bumped up to the top billing. It will be Yahya’s
first outing since a trio of unsuccessful walks to the Ultimate Fighting Championship cage, while
Saadi too will be making his first PFL appearance after fairly
decent recent results in UAE Warriors and Ares FC.
PFL MENA 2026 Season 3 rebooked lineup:
Mohammad
Yahya vs. Mehdi Saadi
– featherweight
Salah
Eddine Hamli vs. Ylies
Djiroun – lightweight
Hamza
Kooheji vs. Taha
Bendaoud – featherweight
Zamzam Al
Hammadi vs. TBA – amateur women’s strawweight
Mohammad
Fahmi vs. Assem
Ghanem – lightweight
Ahmed
El Sisy vs. Harda Karim
– lightweight
Georges
Eid vs. Hussein
Fakher – lightweight
Abdullah
Saleem vs. Basel
Ahmed Shalaan – lightweight
Hamad
Marhoon vs. Saher
Qasmieh – flyweight
Ahmed
Albrahim vs. Khaled
Mahmoud – welterweight
Butti
Suwaid Alameri vs. TBA – amateur featherweight
لأول مرة خارج السعودية… PFL MENA تصل إلى دبي
🏙️موسم 2026 يبدأ يوم الأحد 24 مايو في Coca-Cola Arena
مقاتلون من 11 دولة عربية في بطولة واحدة 🌍
[#PFLMENA9
| الأحد، 24 مايو | كوكاكولا أرينا، دبي | فتح الأبواب 4 مساءً]
pic.twitter.com/NQT2ckjQ8S— PFL MENA (@PFLMENA)
April 23, 2026