Renato Babalu Sobral and Fabricio Werdum pose the a local NGO’s T-shirt. Photo by Mohamad Jehad/GRACIEMAG.
By Dão Tavares
Invited by Prince Hussein Mirza to watch the Desert Force event in Amman, Renato Babalu Sobral and Fabricio Werdum were a major hit with the crowd. There in Jordan’s capital, the two Jiu-Jitsu black belts were greatly receptive to the fans of the fastest growing sport in the world.
At the weigh-ins held at the recently inaugurated Tal Mall, it wasn’t just the crowd that wanted to get up close to the two MMA stars, but the fighters themselves, who did their all to get pictures with their idols.
The next day, minutes before the opening fight on the card got underway, Desert Force’s official presenter led a round of “Happy Birthday” for Babalu, who turned 37 that day and was in the front row watching the event alongside Werdum and members of the Jordanian royal family.
While some queried him about how close he is to retirement, according to the birthday boy, only after the Bellator light heavyweight GP will he even think about hanging up his gloves.
Now Werdum, who got laughs out of everyone from the hotel clerk to the prince, heaped praise on the Middle Eastern fighters who approached him for assessment: “I liked the fights. Most of the guys got the killer spirit,” he said.
Babalu and Werdum also expressed interest in returning to the region to pay a visit to some NGOs involved with helping child refugees that use combat sports to recover their self-esteem.
Stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com for further information on Jordan’s Desert Force.
Abdallah Abou Hamdan (Lebanon) vs Karim Khalifa (Tunisia)
Ammar Tchalabi (Syria) vs Amr Wahman (Egypt)
Haidar Rasheed (Jordan) vs Bilel Missaoui (Tunisia).