The Roman Amphitheatre in Amman will host Desert Force’s DF UNCAGED mixed martial arts event on 30 October, with 14 professional bouts featuring fighters from 16 countries and four Jordanian competitors.
The event forms part of Jordan’s Mixed Martial Arts Week and will be staged beneath the historic stones of the nearly 1,900-year-old landmark in the Jordanian capital. Organisers are presenting the show as a major evening for Arab combat sports, with local fighters aiming to settle their contests in front of a home crowd.
The card also marks the return of brothers Zaid Mirza and Mohammad Mirza to the organisation of professional fights. Zaid founded Desert Force in Amman in 2010, while Mohammad developed it into one of the region’s leading professional platforms and its first major organisation dedicated to mixed martial arts.
Although the event is being held under the new name DF UNCAGED, the brothers’ involvement recalls the Desert Force era, which helped establish mixed martial arts in the Arab world and introduced several of the region’s leading fighters.
Russian sambo meets American pressure
The headline bout features Russia’s Mohammad Berkhamov, a former ACA welterweight champion with a record of 17 wins and three defeats, against American Dante Schiro, who has 13 victories and six losses.
Berkhamov is known for his combat sambo, takedowns and submission skills, while Schiro brings high-level fitness and sustained pressure. The bout will take place at a catchweight of 176lb.
In the middleweight co-main event, 38-year-old American Andrew Sanchez, a former UFC fighter and the winner of season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter, faces attacking Russian Mikhail Raguzin. Sanchez has 14 wins and nine losses, while Raguzin enters with a record of 25 wins and seven defeats.
Lebanese veteran Mohammad Fakhreddine, 42, will also make his anticipated return. He was the first fighter in BRAVE CF history to hold titles in two weight divisions, winning the middleweight belt in 2020 and the light-heavyweight title in 2022, before regaining the middleweight championship in 2025.
Fakhreddine, who has 18 wins and five losses, returns to the capital where his career first gained prominence. He is scheduled to face 34-year-old Welsh veteran John Martin Fraser, who has a record of 11 wins and six defeats and has previously competed in Cage Warriors and UAE Warriors. Their catchweight contest is set for 202lb.
Event schedule and full card
The fight week begins with a news conference at Amman’s Jabal Al-Qala’a on 27 October. An open training session will take place on the Dead Sea Corniche on 28 October, followed by the official weigh-in at the Odeon Theatre on 29 October.
The main card includes Fares Al-Rimi v Salman Hantous at bantamweight, Romero Cotton v Ezekias Gleim at middleweight, and Abdullah Jawish v Islam Shalouti at featherweight.
The preliminary bouts are listed as Tamerlan Dulatov v Levi Carriel, Mohammad Fakhreddine v John Martin Fraser, Kurban Zinokov v Gilson Nogueira, Zafar Rashidov v Davy Chou, Kurban Ali Zinokov v Catalin Savta, Ratibor Yashchenko v Roy Chen, Fareeh Harahsheh v Abdul Hafiz Bandari, Zaki Kayali v Abbas Haddad, and Yazan Balawi v Issam Azlhad.
The Roman Amphitheatre opens to spectators at 17:00 Amman time, with the main bouts due to begin at 21:00. MBC Action will provide free live coverage.
Organisers say the event is intended to strengthen Jordan’s position as an international sports tourism destination by combining professional competition with the country’s historic setting.
