Yemeni jiu-jitsu champion aims to bring world title home to Middle East

Born to Yemeni parents and raised in Saudi Arabia, San Diego resident Osamah Almarwai has gone further than any Arab athlete in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world. And this weekend, Almarwai looks to go one step further by becoming the Flyweight World Champion in submission grappling at the ONE Fight Night 10 event in Colorado this Friday.

The Singapore-based ONE FC will be staging their first-ever event in the US with a killer card in the mixed martial arts world. Three world title fights in MMA, Muay Thai and submission grappling are on the main card, and the world title fight of Musumeci vs. Almarwai is one of the most anticipated of the night.

Under the guidance of world-famous Andre Galvao at the Atos Academy in San Diego, Almarwai has been training in BJJ for almost 15 years. He started grappling while in high school in Saudi Arabia and continued while getting his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering.

“I tried a lot of sports — I did judo, taekwondo, kung-fu, wrestling and jiu-jitsu — but what I loved about jiu-jitsu was the technical aspect,” said Almarwai. “In Japanese, jiu-jitsu means ‘the gentle art.’ It is a sport where the technique is more important than power or strength. As an engineer, I think that catered to my personality. We, engineers, sometimes are considered nerds, we love thinking and solving problems. I love BJJ because of the thinking element of it — I thought I could be successful at it.”

Almarwai, who also has a master’s degree in engineering management, was right, and has seen huge success in the sport. Within just a few short years he has become Number 1 IBJJF Rooster Weight No-Gi (2022), IBJJF World No-Gi Champion (2022), IBJJF Pan No-Gi Champion (2022), IBJJF American Nationals No-Gi