Ali Taleb: Four Years Since the Title Night, Returning at UAE Warriors 72
Four years ago today, Ali Taleb walked into a UAE Warriors cage and walked out its bantamweight champion. The Iraqi fighter, based in Malmö, Sweden, stopped reigning champion Vinicius Oliveira on 2 July 2022 to win the title, and he did it the way he has done most of his work: with a finish. On 23 July 2026 he returns to UAE Warriors in Abu Dhabi for the first time since that night, which makes the anniversary a fitting moment to look back
Four years since Ali Taleb took the belt
Taleb entered UAE Warriors 30 unbeaten inside the promotion, against the most accomplished opponent he had faced. Oliveira had taken the UAE Warriors bantamweight title by stopping a sitting champion and had defended it once. Taleb ended that reign in the third round, stopping Oliveira by TKO at 2:30 to win the belt. It was the fifth victory of a perfect UAE Warriors run and the biggest result of his career to that point.
Oliveira has since gone on to compete in the UFC, where he is a ranked bantamweight (#12).
Ali Taleb’s record
Taleb is 12-2 as of June 2026, and the shape of that record is the story. Ten of his twelve wins have come by finish, a rate of 83 percent, with seven by knockout or TKO and three by submission. Both of his losses went to the judges, so no opponent has finished him. He is a guillotine threat on the mat and a straight puncher on the feet, and once he commits to a finish he rarely needs the scorecards.
He turned professional in 2019 and built his UAE Warriors run between 2021 and 2022. He beat Nawras Abzakh, Mohamed El Mesbahi, Victor Nunes and Mahmoud Mando before facing Oliveira, going 5-0 and winning the title in his fifth appearance. He now trains at Pegla Jiu-Jitsu Club in Malmö.
What Ali Taleb did next
The belt he won at UAE Warriors was the first of two. After leaving the promotion, Taleb moved to the PFL, where he went 5-2 across its European and MENA seasons. On 29 November 2024 he knocked out Rachid El Hazoume in the first round to become the first PFL MENA bantamweight champion.
Ali Taleb’s return at UAE Warriors 72
Now he comes back to where the first title was won. On 23 July 2026 in Abu Dhabi, Taleb faces Peter Danesoe, a Thai finisher whose every professional stoppage has come in the first round. It is Taleb’s first UAE Warriors appearance in four years, and it reunites him with the promotion that produced the defining night of his career.
The anniversary and the return sit three weeks apart. Four years to the day since he took the title, Ali Taleb is preparing to fight again under the banner where he first became a champion.
UAE Warriors 72 takes place in Abu Dhabi on 23 July 2026. Follow Ali Taleb on Instagram at @iamalitaleb.
