Afghan Promoter Desperate To Flee Country After Taliban Makes MMA Illegal

Afghan MMA promotion Truly Grand Fighting Championship founder and promoter Abdul Wasi Sharifi is among the many still looking to flee Afghanistan.

Afghanistan was the major news headline for the entirety of August as the United States withdrew its forces from the country with the Taliban swiftly taking over.

Many Afghans — particularly those who helped the US — were desperate to flee the country soon after and although many were evacuated, there are plenty of others who are stuck under the new Taliban rule following the August 31 deadline.

That includes Sharifi who was also unable to enter the airport gates after spending a new nights around the Kabul airport. He revealed to MMA Fighting that “people are really worried about the Afghanistan situation which is getting worse day by day.”

“I know that many civil activists and journalists were arrested [Thursday] during demonstrations against the Pakistani interference and the Taliban is hitting them with sticks and wire line,” Sharifi wrote. “They also hit me when I was at the airport gate.

“We‘re trying to leave country ASAP and hopefully the MMA community around the world, specially the biggest MMA industry like UFC and other promotion, can help us to leave Afghanistan. We are one in the combat community.”

Additionally, with the Taliban banning MMA, Sharifi — who promoted 13 events between May 2018 and May 2021 and still received death threats during that period — has an even greater need to leave.

“I’ve invested in this sport in Afghanistan and our show was the biggest in the country and region but Taliban is against MMA and they are adding that punching in the face is prohibited under their law,” he said. “And also that athletes should wear long trunks till under the knees.”

“… We are not able to organize MMA shows in Afghanistan now. I organized a women’s MMA show two years ago and received many letter threats and phone calls from Taliban regime to stop girls events and models in the show. We didn’t stop our shows, and again organized women’s shows live on TV.”

Australian MMA promotion BEAST Championship president Jason Hoad has made an effort to get Sharifi out of the country but hasn’t succeeded thus far.

Hopefully, Sharifi and the rest of his team are able to make it out safely.