Abu Azaitar will make just his third appearance in over five years this coming Saturday, as he takes on Sedriques Dumas at UFC 294.
The Moroccan last competed in March of 2021, where he was finished by Marc-Andre Barriault. Prior to that, his last fight was in 2018 against Vitor Miranda, where he picked up a win. In that five year period he has been booked to fight three other times, but pulled out of all three scheduled bouts.
At the UFC 294 media day, the 37-year-old spoke about the hiatus.
“It’s been a long time, as you know guys the last time when I fought in the Apex it was one of the hardest times that we all had with the Coronavirus. It wasn’t my best preparation, I don’t like to excuse it but I did it, I fought and trained a bit and I had a hard fight.
“After that I took some rest and as you know, life has ups and downs, and the whole life is a fight with ourself and with everything, so then we had a good preparation and we’re happy to be here and prepared for this fight. It doesn’t matter to me that I haven’t fought for a long time.”
His opponent for this one, Sedriques Dumas, came through from the Contender Series. Since then, he has gone 1-1 in his UFC tenure, with his last fight coming against Cody Brundage back in June, where he picked up a decision win.
Watch the full UFC 294 media day appearance from Abu Azaitar above.
