Desert Force returns to Amman’s Roman Theatre for 14-bout DF UNCAGED event

Desert Force will return to the spotlight on 30 October when the DF UNCAGED mixed martial arts event is staged at Amman’s Roman Theatre, a 1,900-year-old landmark in the Jordanian capital.

The event forms part of Jordan MMA Week and will feature 14 professional bouts involving fighters from 16 countries. Four Jordanian competitors will also be seeking victories in front of a home crowd.

The show marks the return of Zaid Mirza, who founded Desert Force in Amman in 2010, and his brother Mohammad Mirza, who developed the promotion into one of the region’s leading professional MMA organisations and its first major specialist platform.

Although the event is being held under the new DF UNCAGED name, the brothers’ involvement recalls the Desert Force era, which helped establish Arab mixed martial arts and identified several of the sport’s leading regional fighters.

Russian sambo against American pressure

The headline contest features Russia’s Mohammad Barkhamov, a former ACA welterweight champion, against American Dante Shiro at a contracted weight of 176lb.

Barkhamov has a record of 17 wins and three defeats and is known for his combat sambo, takedowns and submission skills. Shiro, who has won 13 and lost six, brings high-level fitness and relentless pressure to the contest.

The middleweight co-main event will see 38-year-old American Andrew Sanchez face Russia’s Mikhail Ragozin. Sanchez, a former UFC fighter and winner of season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter, has a record of 14 wins and nine defeats, while Ragozin enters with 25 victories and seven losses.

Lebanon’s Mohammad Fakhreddine, 42, will also make a much-anticipated return. He became the first fighter in BRAVE CF history to hold titles in two weight divisions, winning the middleweight belt in 2020 before claiming the light-heavyweight title in 2022. He regained the middleweight championship in 2025.

Fakhreddine, who has 18 wins and five defeats, returns to the city where his career became established to face 34-year-old Welsh veteran John Martin Fraser. Fraser has a record of 11 wins and six losses and has previously competed in Cage Warriors and UAE Warriors. Their bout is set for a contracted weight of 202lb.

Week-long schedule

The programme begins with a news conference at Amman’s Citadel on 27 October. Fighters will hold an open training session on the Dead Sea Corniche on 28 October, before the official weigh-in takes place at the Odeon Theatre on 29 October.

The announced main-card contests include Fares Al Rimi v Salman Hantous in the bantamweight division, Romero Cotton v Ezekias Gleim at middleweight, and Abdullah Jawish v Islam Shaloti at featherweight.

The preliminary schedule lists Tamerlan Dulatov v Levi Cariel, Mohammad Fakhreddine v John Martin Fraser, Qurban Zinukov v Gilson Nogueira, Zafar Rashidov v Dawei Chu, Qurban Ali Zinukov v Catalin Savta, Ratibor Yashchenko v Rui Chen, Farih Harahsheh v Abdelhafiz Bandari, Zaki Kyali v Abbas Haddad, and Yazan Blawi v Issam Azlhad.

The Roman Theatre will open to spectators at 17:00 local time, with the main bouts scheduled to begin at 21:00. MBC Action will broadcast the event live and free.

Organisers say the show is intended to promote Jordan as an international sports tourism destination by combining professional competition with the country’s historic setting.