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ABU DHABI – Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady impressed in his contract-winning performance, but his momentum took a big hit.
Al-Selwady (15-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) was a big underdog when he fought Cage Warriors champion George Hardwick on Dana White’s Contender Series 58 in August 2023. He picked up the upset win, and was looking forward to making some noise in the UFC’s lightweight division.
However, it took seven months for Al-Selwady to get booked when he drew Loik Radzhabov in March 2024. After a back-and-forth fight, Al-Selwady was knocked out in Round 3. Then followed three-straight fight cancellations, resulting in a one-year layoff. The Fortis MMA fighter, who kept his weight low in case of a short-notice opportunity, opened up on the extended period of time away from competition.
“Funny thing is, the dream was to win that Contender fight in 2023 and fight in the Abu Dhabi event two months later,” Al-Selwady told MMA Junkie. “That’s exactly two years ago. That didn’t happen. I ended up fighting in March the following year. I was doing really well in that fight, got caught, lost. Then got booked for Abu Dhabi later that year, I got injured in my spine, had to get recovered, took a fight in February for Saudi. My first opponent accepted the fight knowing he couldn’t fight. We found that out later, and then he pulled out a month out. Then it took us about two weeks to get a new opponent.
“The new opponent backed out a week out, I still flew out, still cutting weight. They couldn’t find a replacement, so we just didn’t get a fight, and I stayed ready from February until now. Every month, I said OK, I’m sure I’m going to fight the next month, I’m sure I’m fighting the month after, and I basically piggybacked all of my teammates’ fight camps. Every guy that had a fight camp, I joined camp with him, and I just kept getting better. I kept getting ready, and inshallah this Saturday I’m coming for the win. After I win, it’s going to be a big lesson for me that it’s not about when I want it, it’s all about God’s timing.”
Al-Selwady returns against Matheus Camilo (9-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC 321 (Pay-per-view, FX/Disney+/ESPN+) prelims at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Camilo is no stranger to an upset himself after spoiling Dorobshokh Nabotov’s wish of getting signed to the UFC.
“I looked at his tape, and I’m not really focused on going for submissions, or going for the knockout, or going for anything in specific,” Al-Selwady said of Camilo. “I just feel like I’m much more mature than him, and I have more experience, and I feel like I’m going to catch him either on the standup or on the ground, making him very uncomfortable, and when he’s uncomfortable, sporadic, that’s when I’m going to catch him, whether it’s on the feet or on the ground.”
