Former Tournament Champ: Egypt’s Rising Star Battles in PFL Chicago Saturday

PFL is set for another amazing 2026 card on Saturday, April 11 which will take place inside the Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Though the main card is stacked with action, there is a PFL tournament champion lurking on the undercard waiting for his opportunity to rise to the top. That dangerous welterweight ready to explode on the scene is Omar El-Dafrawy.

Omar El-Dafrawy: Entering the World of MMA

Prior to entering the world of MMA in his first amateur bout at the age of 21, Omar El-Dafrawy was big into the world of calisthenics, which consists of strength training using your own body weight as resistance.

“I was quite athletic and have been into most sports. I picked up calisthenics and gave it up around 2020 to go full time in MMA,” Omar El-Dafrawy told MMASucka.

Omar El-Dafrawy: Developing the Craft

Most of Omar El-Dafrawy’s early MMA success came under the tutelage of the coaches at Soma Fight Club. El-Dafrawy credits his teammates along with coaches Mike Ikilei and Yousef Wehbe for leading him to his PFL 2024 welterweight tournament championship.

El-Dafrawy has literally trained around the world with coaches in Thailand and in the Philippians where, as he stated, was “given the cannonballs in his hands” from his boxing coach.

Currently, Omar El-Dafrawy trains at Valle Flow Striking in Bensenville, IL, about 20 miles west of Chicago. There, he is under the tutelage of famed striking coach and team owner/creator, Mike Valle. MMA Junkie’s 2004 Coach of the Year, Valle is known as the striking coach for many of the UFC’s best.

Omar El-Dafrawy: The Climb to PFL Gold

Omar El-Dafrawy began his professional mixed martial arts career in May 2017, securing a first-round knockout victory at AUFC 13. Continuing through 2019, El-Dafrawy would earn an impressive 5-1 record before getting close to serving nearly two years of mandatory service in the Egyptian army.

“The military didn’t help me with MMA game at all, but I was the military Kung Fu champion 2022,” he said.

He would earn this title by destroying the competition, knocking out every competitor he faced along the way in the tournament.

Post-Military Service Run

Omar El-Dafrawy attributed a lot of his four-fight losing skid to trying to jump back into the cage too early after his military stint.

“The military did not do anything to improve my MMA game,” he said. “I was just rushing into the cage leading to the four-fight losing streak. I made the turnaround from 5-5 because I decided to go all in.”

After a string of decision losses in Brave CF, El-Dafrawy would turn it around in the Canggu Fight Night organization beginning in July 2023. Scoring the unanimous decision, El-Dafrawy would go on an impressive eight-fight winning streak.

Upon going 3-0 in Canggu Fight Night, Omar El-Dafrawy would move his way into the UAE Warriors organization, earning a big first-round knockout via knee to begin his 2024 fight year. July would see El-Dafrawy enter PFL, with no signs of slowing down.

PFL Run

Securing a win in PFL MENA 3 in 2024 would catapult Omar El-Dafrawy to the playoffs. Once on the big stage, there was no turning back for El-Dafrawy who scored a first-round knockout out in September 2024 leading to the PFL tournament championship in November of the same year. He would not disappoint, nabbing the championship with a big second-round TKO victory.

2025 would see him continue just as hot, securing a submission victory in the first round of PFL MENA 2 in July. Though he would suffer a tough unanimous decision loss in October, look for Egypt’s rising star to come out big in his 2026 appearance.

“Fans can expect fireworks, which I always bring to the table,” he said. “We have just had eight weeks of training and developing the craft. Expect version 2.0!”