LOS ANGELES – Sure, he's not a former Olympic gold medalist seemingly destined to become a UFC champion, but Sean Sharaf believes he has an interesting background of his own.
Sharaf, 33, is a United States Marine who served his country for six years, and he happens to be of Palestinian descent born to a father from Jerusalem, who immigrated to the U.S. as a refugee. Given the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, and as news of rapper Macklemore being dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour over his "Free Palestine" message currently dominates headlines, Sharaf believes he has a story worth telling.
"We just say 'Free Palestine.' It's not a crime," Sharaf, who's from nearby Santa Ana, told reporters during Wednesday's UFC 331 media day. "We just don't
want to see women and children killed, legs amputated and bombed. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marines I served with, there was rules of engagement. You can't just bomb a building and kill everyone inside of it. You have to go in there and do your job as a professional and take out the enemy and leave as little civilian casualties as possible. That's all we're saying. We just don't want to see women and children killed."
Sharaf faces the tall task of fighting the aforementioned former Olympic gold medalist wrestler in Gable Steveson at UFC 331 on Saturday night from Crypto.com Arena. Steveson is coming off an impressive promotional debut win in July at UFC 329. Sharaf, on the other hand, is 0-2 in the UFC after being knocked out in his first two appearances.
As these situations tend to go, Sharaf's fight with Steveson is intended to be a showcase for his heavily hyped opponent. But is Sharaf impressed with what he's seen?
"No, I'm not impressed," Sharaf said. "Everyone's just all hyped. He's an Olympic gold medalist, but this is fighting. We're gonna fight. ...
"It doesn't bother me at all. I get it. They're gonna push him, they're gonna promote him. I just want the same opportunity to promote myself and tell my story."
As for his plan to leave with his first UFC win despite being a huge +900 underdog to Steveson? He's keeping it simple.
"Hit, don't get hit, leave with a bag full of cash," Sharaf said.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean Sharaf 'not impressed' by Gable Steveson heading into UFC 331
