Omar El Dafrawy has been on a roll since leaving everything, including his business in his native Egypt, behind to reside in Bali and focus full-time on his MMA career.
He has gone undefeated in five fights during the two years since relocating, leading to his place in the Professional Fighters League (PFL) Mena 3 welterweight semi-final play-offs, where he takes on Jarrah Al Silawi at Boulevard City in Riyadh, on Friday.
It represents a remarkable turnaround for the Egyptian, whose career looked in jeopardy after losing four fights in succession.
“I realised I had too many things to handle after losing four fights in a row and that’s the time I left everything to just concentrate on my career as a professional MMA fighter,” El Dafrawy told The National.
“Back home, I was involved in MMA, running a gym and doing a business management degree and various other involvements, so much so it even took me eight years to complete my degree.
“I decided to leave behind everything and move out to Bali just to pursue my MMA career. That’s what I wanted to do and after I came here everything in my career changed.
“I was losing not because I wasn’t training, it was because I was not very focused. I was not mentally in a good place but the environment I was in was not very healthy for me to be training.”
El Dafrawy first moved to Thailand before settling in Bali, following a friend’s advice. It's a decision that has already bared fruit; his five-fight winning run began after moving to the Indonesian island.
“In Bali, everything just opened up for me, like I had many opportunities. I felt like many doors were opening for me and I just felt that I'm enjoying it here and things are going well for me,” he said.
“I have a great team behind me. I have my nutritionist here, my plans are to the point, the island is beautiful, it's giving me what I want, so this is why I decided to stick here.”
El Dafrawy's winning streak began with a unanimous decision over Australian Campbell Symes in the Bali MMA Canggu Fight Night 26 in July 2023. He then outclassed his next two opponents, Jovidon Khojaev of Tajikistan and Filipino Lhar Ocampo, via TKOs in the same promotion.
Returning to UAE Warriors, he scored a first-round knockout against Kuwaiti Abdulla Al Bousheiri before a unanimous decision against Lebanon's Anthony Zeidan on his PFL debut in Riyadh to book his place in the play-offs.
Standing between him and a place in the final is Jordan's Al Silawi – an experienced fighter with a professional record of 20-6.
“Jarrah is a well-rounded fighter, but like I have proven in my previous fights and what I can do to my opponents, he’s not going to go the distance,” said El Dafrawy, whose record stands at 11-6.
“I will break him like what I had done to my opponents in the last five appearances. I have the skills and now my attitude inside the cage has changed after I started to focus only on my fighting.
“My last fight in the PFL against Anthony, he showed that he could take all my punches and the punishments. Jarrah will not take as many punches as Anthony did. I promise, if I'm able to land the same volume of strikes on him he will be done by the first round.”
El Dafrawy’s professional debut ended in defeat to fellow Egyptian Ahmed Soliman at the Arabic Ultimate Fighting Championship 10 in Cairo in October 2016. He won the next two contests before suffering his second loss to compatriot Ahmed Sami. Thereafter, four successive wins were followed by four consecutive defeats that necessitated his move to Bali.
“I fought in many different promotions and I have been robbed by so many different promotions,” El Dafrawy said of his early days in MMA.
“Life is tough for MMA fighters back home in Egypt but the good thing is it provides the platform. I have been through all that but now I’m in a better position with this break from the PFL. “
El Dafrawy, who first got into combat sports after watching the move Southpaw in 2016, took a break from MMA to complete two years of national military service, returning to the sport in September 2022. Since reviving his career in Bali, his main training partner has been Eliezer Kubanza, an active MMA pro from Congo with a 6-0 record.
“He’s one of the best MMA fighters and I train with him,” El Dafrawy said. “He’s young, strong, very skilful and talented. Aside from being undefeated in MMA, he has over 300 martial arts fights in karate and street fights.
“I have been in camp with Eliezer for the last four months, and training and sparring with him has kept me in great shape. So, I’m going into this fight against Jarrah well prepared to take the win.”
