Mohammed Jaraya will return to the ring in September despite being handed a suspension by the Sectie Ringcontactsporten Federatie Oosterse Gevechtskunsten (FOG) in May.
The Moroccan fighter will face Yassin Baitair on September 30, in an Enfusion League fight in Antwerp, Belgium. The event will be promoted by the Antwerp Fight Organisation.
Mohammed Jaraya is scheduled to fight on the 30th of September in Antwerp Fight Organisation against Yassin Baitar. pic.twitter.com/ZOhALztnqh
— Kris Dekker (@KrisDekkerMMA) June 21, 2017
In May, Jaraya was temporarily banned from participating in events governed by the Sectie RCS FOG following an incident at Enfusion Live 49 in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands where he publicly attacked an official after losing a decision to Redouan Laarkoubi.
The RCS FOG; who are one of the top officiating bodies in the Netherlands, suspended four people in total from Fighting Talents, pending a full investigation.
Interestingly, Hicham El Gaoui — who was one of the four suspended — was booked by Enfusion the following week to compete at an event in Slovakia.
Similar to teammate Gaoui, Jaraya will now be taken outside of FOG jurisdiction to Belgium for his next fight in the Enfusion League.
This isn’t the first time in combat sports where a promoter has looked for alternate licensing when presented with a difficult set of circumstances.
In 2012, Dereck Chisora was stripped of his boxing license by the British Boxing Board of Control following a brawl with David Haye in the build up to their fight. In spite of this, the match-up still went ahead as planned, but instead, promoter BoxNation/Team Sauerland was able to get it sanctioned by the Luxembourg Boxing Federation.
If a fighter is approved by a different governing body, or decides to compete in another country, they are well within their rights to do so. However, with FOG being an instrumental part of the kickboxing scene in the Netherlands, including key areas such as: The Hague, Eindhoven and Groningen, Jaraya may face an uphill struggle if he hopes to fight there again in the near future.
The final verdict from the governing body is expected to be announced very soon and the 21-year-old may face a lengthy suspension from competition in the Netherlands.
