Frankie Edgar expects MMA to “spread fast” in Bahrain following his visit to the country as a guest of Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, first deputy president of the country’s Supreme Council for Youth and Sports. As an influential enthusiast of Mixed Martial Arts, H.H. Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad is looking to bring MMA to the masses in Bahrain, and on August 15 he officially announced an international MMA team, dubbed KHK MMA, comprised of a diverse lineup of fighters including IMMAF World Amateur Championship medalists Jose Torres and Frans Mlambo, IMMAF World Championships veteran James Gallagher, no.3 ranked UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov and SBG Ireland coach John Kavanagh. No. 2 ranked UFC featherweight Frankie Edgar attended the launch as a guest and commented on the experience with Andrew McGahon of SevereMMA.com. The former UFC champion touched on how he expects the sport to develop in Bahrain and the opportunity that has been given to the fighters of Team KHK, who will be financially supported by H.H. Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad in order for them to train full time. “It’s a unique situation where it’s probably not a very big sport in this country, but the royal prince is into it, so now it’s going to spread fast,” Edgar explained. “You can see some of the younger guys have an opportunity to really pursue it full time now that they’re on the KHK team and they’re going to have some unique opportunities in front of them.” 2 x IMMAF gold medal winner Jose Torres gave insight into his how Bahrain adventure, in a recent interview with IMMAF. H. H. Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad supported the Bahrain Mixed Martial Arts Federation as the country became the second Arab nation to join the IMMAF family in May. Bahrain competed with a team of fighters in this year’s IMMAF World Championships of Amateur MMA in July. H.H. Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad was in attendance at the Las Vegas based tournament, and it was here that he first met the likes of Kavanagh, Torres and Mlambo. [/spb_text_block]]]>
