Abdul Azim Badakhshi has signed with the UFC and, according to the website, is making his debut today! Details are very low on the ground but it is possible the date might have been entered in error.
His profile appeared recently on UFC.com which means the Afghan featherweight must have put pen to paper on a contract. However it is possible he will be competing as part of a Road to UFC tournament rather than on a regular fight card.
Badakhshi is notorious in his adopted home of India. His girlfriend, Kishu Shroff, is one of the Matrix Fight Night promoters and the featherweight emerged as a star fighting on their cards.
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But it all turned sour at Matrix Fight Night 9 when he allegedly led an angry mob of Afghans which attacked Srikant Sekhar. Badakhshi allegedly broke the Indian fighter’s jaw.
In the aftermath of that incident Jackie Shroff, who happens to be Badakhshi’s girlfriend’s mother, announced that Afghans would be banned from competing on Matrix Fight Night cards. It left the 28 year old with a very uncertain future but he appears to have landed on his feet.
His younger brother Abdul Karim Badakhshi is also a successful fighter although he doesn’t appear to be based in India. The undefeated bantamweight recently improved his record to 6-0 with a win in Russia.
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Possible typo
There are no UFC events scheduled today so the information about the date of Badakhshi’s debut is probably incorrect. But numerous Asian fighters have announced in recent weeks that they have signed with the promotion.
It appears that there will be Road to UFC events taking place on May 27th and May 28th with the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai rumoured to be the venue. The shows will feature flyweights, bantamweights, featherweights and lightweights.
If Badakhshi is going to have to win a tournament in order to secure a spot on the roster then he has a long way to go before he can truly call himself a UFC fighter. But at least the Afghan will be fighting again after a year long break from competitive action.
