Moroccan MMA Star Abu Azaitar Set for UFC 294 Return After Two-Year Hiatus

The two middleweights Abu Azaitar and Sedriques Dumas are expected to face off as part of UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi in October, reports Cageside press. Information confirmed by Dumas on social media. This will be the Moroccan champion’s first fight since March 2021, and only his third since July 2018. In his first appearance in the octagon at UFC Fight Night 134, he had fought against the former Brazilian kickboxer and mixed martial artist, Vitor Miranda in 2018 and had won his first victory. In March 2021, the Canadian Marc-André Barriault had inflicted a defeat on the one nicknamed "Captain Morocco" as part of UFC 260.

The Moroccan champion has therefore only fought twice in the last five years. The reason? In 2021, the American anti-doping agency USADA had suspended him for a period of 7 months for doping. The growing influence of the UFC fighter (and his brother Ottman) as members of King Mohammed VI’s inner circle would also be the cause. He is one of the athletes who gravitate around the sovereign.