DF UNCAGED aims to take Desert Force from Jordan to the Arab world

Desert Force will return to mixed martial arts with DF UNCAGED at Amman’s historic Roman Theatre on Friday 30 October, as the organisation seeks to combine international competition with Jordan’s tourism and cultural attractions.

The event will feature boxing legend Mike Tyson, former Brazil football star Ronaldinho and renowned MMA coach Javier Mendez. Their presence is intended to take the show beyond the usual mixed martial arts audience and place Jordan at the centre of global sporting attention.

Speaking to Kooora, Desert Force founder Zaid Mirza said the organisation’s central purpose had not changed since it was established in 2010, although the sport and its audience had developed significantly.

The original Desert Force project concentrated largely on amateur fighters, developing local talent and creating a foundation for Arab competitors. At the time, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts were still relatively unfamiliar across the region.

Mirza said Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed had been among the pioneers who introduced jiu-jitsu to the United Arab Emirates, while in Jordan he worked with the armed forces and security agencies on training programmes covering jiu-jitsu and defensive combat techniques.

The organisation also sought to demonstrate that mixed martial arts and jiu-jitsu combined athletic ability with practical self-defence skills, at a time when some traditional combat sports were becoming more focused on their sporting and Olympic elements.

Desert Force has now been relaunched under the DF UNCAGED name as part of a new marketing identity. Mirza said the founders and the project’s objectives remained the same, with the change designed to present the organisation to audiences in a broader and more modern way.

He said Desert Force had faced considerable resistance when mixed martial arts was viewed by many as excessively violent or dangerous. The organisation worked to explain the sport’s rules and nature, introduce it to children and young people, and expand training in military and security institutions. It also helped establish an Arab mixed martial arts federation under an Arab Olympic body.

The new event will extend beyond the fight night. Its programme includes media activities, open training sessions, cultural events, music festivals and visits to Jordanian tourist sites. Mirza said the aim was to offer visitors an experience that combined sport with the country’s historical and cultural heritage.

He described Tyson, Ronaldinho and Mendez as figures with separate audiences and influence. Tyson, he said, was one of boxing’s greatest names after Muhammad Ali, while Ronaldinho remained one of football’s most popular and influential players and an inspiration to generations including Lionel Messi. Mendez, who has worked with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev, Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier, was described as a major figure in developing MMA champions.

The card will include international professionals alongside Arab fighters, including Mohammad Fakhreddine. Mirza said exposure to experienced competitors and world champions was essential to improving the technical and physical level of fighters from the Middle East and North Africa.

Desert Force has previously staged events in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Lebanon. Mirza said its relationship with UFC and PFL MENA was “good and excellent”, but argued that Desert Force’s understanding of regional cultures, audiences and markets gave it a distinct role.

He said the fighters were the event’s “real stars” and should be placed at its centre. While he expected the main event and co-main event to attract the greatest interest, he declined to reveal any further surprises before the appropriate time.

The long-term ambition is to use Jordan as the starting point for expansion into the Arab world and eventually a wider global audience, including events in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.

Mirza said limited funding remained a major challenge, alongside the need for more competitions and a stronger talent-development system. He argued that MMA was still a relatively young sport in the region and required continued investment in tournaments, schools and armed forces training programmes.

He thanked Jordan’s commercial and government supporters, including the Ministry of Tourism, the Jordan Tourism Board, the Jordanian Armed Forces, the Royal Court and the Prime Ministry.