Kurdish MMA fighter to compete at highly anticipated UFC 243

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Kurdish mixed martial arts fighter is set to compete in his second Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout on Saturday.

Rostem Akman (6-1-0), from Mardin in the Kurdistan of Turkey, will fight Jake Matthews (14-4-0) on the preliminary card of UFC 243: Adesanya vs. Whittaker.

“It’s time! Coming with a full camp and a lot of confidence to this one,” the Kurdish fighter wrote on Facebook in August.

Welterweight Akman, nicknamed “Kurdimus Prime,” made his UFC debut against Russian Sergey Khandozhko (26-5-1) in June on UFC Fight Night 153 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Read More: Mixed results for Kurdish fighters on UFC card in Sweden

The Kurdish athlete was fighting in front of his home crowd in Stockholm but lost via a controversial unanimous decision after three rounds.

With just seven days’ notice, Akman had signed a UFC contract to compete in his first fight, filling in for Bartosz Fabinski (14-3-0), who pulled out of his Welterweight bout against Khandozhko.

The 27-year-old will be hoping to get his UFC career off the mark with a victory against the seasoned Matthews at the prestigious event at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.

UFC 243 features the highly anticipated match-up between middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and interim champion Israel Adesanya.

The preliminary card begins at 8 p.m. ET, while the main card starts at 10 p.m. ET.