The Jordanian fighters Hazem Kayali and the Moroccan Badr al-Din Diani may exchange good wishes before and after the fight, but they know that the courtesy will stop at the cage door on October 2nd, which is the date of their main joint fight on the night of the welterweight semi-finals within “PFL MENA 11.”
During the press conference held via video call, the two fighters spoke in a friendly spirit that did not hide their desire to win.
For Diagne, the encounter is not only an opportunity to qualify; The Moroccan, who reached the final of the 2025 edition before losing to Kuwaiti Mohammed Al-Aqraa, knows what it looks like to approach the title and then return without it, and he also carries a legacy in combat sambo, having been crowned African champion 9 times.
Diagne said: “Losing does not break me, and winning does not make me live in a comfort zone, and every experience pushes me to come back and train harder.”
He refused to reduce his opponent to his professional record, pointing out that Kayali had strong amateur matches and that his experience was greater than the numbers suggest.
On the other hand, Kayali reached the semi-finals after defeating the Lebanese Hassan Shaaban last July. He did not hide his admiration for Diagne’s intelligence inside the cage, but he drew the line between his appreciation for him and what awaits them in Riyadh. “I respect him very much, but when we enter the cage, each one of us has one goal, which is to win.”
The Jordanian fighter is preparing to travel from the United States according to a program he developed to deal with the time difference and the fatigue of the trip, stressing his physical and weight readiness. While both of them looked forward to grabbing the final ticket, they agreed on another wish outside the calculations of the fight: that Arab talents in martial arts would have greater opportunities to demonstrate their abilities at the global level.
The “PFL MENA 11” evening, scheduled for October 2 at the “Global” Theater in Boulevard City in Riyadh, will witness a major confrontation that brings together the Saudi Mustafa Nada and the Egyptian Osama Al-Saidi for the third time, and in addition to the fight between Diagne and Kayyali, the semi-final confrontations include the meeting of the Algerian Mokhtar Bouqezdam with the Egyptian Islam Youssef in the featherweight division, and the Frenchman Elias Giron with the Egyptian Islam Chaalan in the lightweight, The Palestinian Omar Hussein with the Algerian Abdel Karim Zawad in the welterweight, the Tunisian Mahdi Al-Saadi with the Syrian Shadi Kabani in the badminton, and the Iraqi Mohamed Fahmy with the Egyptian Ahmed Al-Sisi in the lightweight.
The card also includes a confrontation between the Lebanese Hassan Shaaban and the Egyptian Assem Ghanem, and an amateur bout between the Saudi Haif Al-Qahtani and the Bahraini Muhammad Al-Shawakh, in addition to a meeting between Saudi Arabia’s Fatima Al-Ammari and Algeria’s Eithar Lounas.
The Competitions Committee of the Gulf Football Federation has set the sixth of next October as the date for the final match of the “Gulf Diyar Al Arabiya 27” Championship, at Al-Enmaa Stadium in King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, with the confrontation starting at nine o’clock in the evening.
The final date was approved during the third meeting of the Competitions Committee, which was held in the city of Jeddah, headed by Dr. Khaled Al-Muqrin, to discuss a number of issues related to the conduct of the tournament competitions hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the period from September 23 to October 6, with the participation of eight teams competing in 15 matches.
During the meeting, the committee discussed the reports submitted by the observers of the matches between the UAE and Yemen, and Qatar and Bahrain, as part of the second day’s competitions, in addition to the organizational and operational observations related to the two matches.
It also reviewed the arrangements for the participating teams’ training schedules and their use times for the approved training stadiums, within the framework of organizing the teams’ technical programs according to the approved schedule for the tournament.
Dr. Khaled Al-Muqrin confirmed that the meeting discussed the match observers’ reports, in addition to the competition arrangements, the teams’ training schedules, and the daily follow-up mechanism, stressing the importance of continuing coordination between the Competitions Committee and the concerned parties and teams throughout the tournament period, ensuring the regularity of competitions, adherence to schedules, and the application of approved regulations and organizational procedures.
The Moroccan national team achieved victory over its guest, Gabon, 2-0, on Friday evening, in the first round of qualifiers for the 2027 African Cup of Nations finals.
Manchester United player Nassair Mazraoui scored the lead goal in the 36th minute, and Sufyan Rahimi, the Emirati Al Ain striker, added the second goal in the 84th minute.
The Moroccan national team won the first 3 points in its journey towards qualifying for the finals of the tournament, which holds its title by decision of the Confederation of African Football, which considered that its competitor in the final match of the previous edition, the Senegal national team, had withdrawn from the match, after its players left the field in objection to the arbitration and then returned minutes later to complete the confrontation, which ended in its original and extra time with Senegal winning 1-0.
With this win, the Moroccan national team leads Group A, with a goal difference over the Niger national team, which had previously won, over Lesotho.
