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.
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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.