Kickboxing star Gokhan Saki is making a transition to MMA, and he’s heading straight to the big leagues by signing for the UFC.
“I’m glad i finally can announce that i have signed an exclusive long term contract with the UFC,” Gokhan wrote on Instagram. “The best investment the UFC has made since Conor McGregor.”
The 33-year-old Turkish fighter has enjoyed a decorated career at the highest level in kickboxing, amassing an 83-16 (+1nc) record during over 15 years of competing in the ring.
Along the way he’s won K-1’s 2008 World Grand-Prix and is a former GLORY light-heavyweight champion and tournament winner, in addition to also holding Dutch and European muay thai titles.
Saki is known as ‘The Turkish Tyson’, and it’s not hard to see why with 59 of his 83 career victories having come by way of KO.
That being said, Saki’s only MMA fight to date ended in a TKO loss to James Zikic. However, that was all the way back in 2004, so no doubt he’ll see this as a chance for a fresh start.
At this stage there’s no word on who Saki’s first opponent will be or when he’ll fight, but given that he’s based in Holland it’s possible that he’ll feature on the UFC’s next visit to Rotterdam in September.