Loai Abushaar is among the regional MMA fighters using their platforms to help others.
While UFC names like Dustin Poirier, Jiri Prochazka, and Beneil Dariush are known for giving back, that commitment extends beyond the sport’s biggest stages.
For Abushaar, giving back meant leaving behind a comfortable life in Arizona to spend three months helping his people in Palestine. What began as an English teaching placement became something far more personal.
From War Zones to CFFC
Abushaar began his fighting journey at Fight Ready MMA, home to coach Henry Cejudo, a two-division UFC champion and Olympic gold medalist. Before his fight at CFFC 136, he moved to MMA Lab to train with Benson Henderson.
In September 2024, the 6-foot-4 fighter submitted Joe Boerschig in the first round, bringing his professional record to 4–1 with all four wins coming by first-round finish. His UFC Fight Pass debut under the CFFC banner followed a year away from competition after a quick knockout loss. He had only a few weeks to prepare after returning to Arizona.
“It felt great to win. It feels way better than losing,” said Abushaar. “If I lost I would’ve been 3-2 which wouldn’t have been good. Alhamdulillah, I’m grateful that I won. I feel good now that I’ve won in CFFC. My face is now a little bit out there. Finishing the fight that way and not taking any damage is also good.”
“I went in, I broke the first-time cage jitters from not being in there for a year. I’ve had the mental burden of my last fight being a loss out of the way. It was honestly just a massive learning experience for me. Now I can analyze, take what was good, remove what was bad, and make sure the next fight I’m coming in 100% no matter what. It looked easy, but I could’ve finished him faster.”
Helping Palestine
Abushaar was in a good place professionally, with a job in finance and a fighting career he had worked hard to build. Still, watching his people suffer from thousands of miles away left him feeling that he needed to do more.
Despite objections from family and friends, he quit his job, put his relationship and training on hold, and broke his lease. He understood that leaving would come at a cost. What he could not have prepared for was how much the experience would stay with him.
“When I took the trip, people said I was out of my mind,” he shared. “They would say ‘you’re going to go there in the middle of a war? What about your career?’ I would decline. I was stubborn because I told myself this is what I’m going to do, and I did it. That was it. There was no negotiation. I wasn’t going to consider someone’s personal opinion on this choice.”
“I was just stubborn about it, and I’m glad I was. Before I took the trip I was in a very good spot in my life. I was a financial analyst for the government and in a good position in my MMA career. I kinda just said no to everything and decided to go there.”
A personal loss also weighed on his decision. His grandmother’s death left him thinking about what he had hoped to share with her and what he could still do for others.
“There are a lot of reasons why I went. I wanted to see what it was like out there. My grandmother also passed away earlier in the year before my trip. I felt like a failure because of how long it took me to become something in my MMA career. I would’ve loved to win a fight and kiss her hand afterward, and now I’ll never get that. That affected me a lot, and ultimately, I couldn’t sit here and talk about helping my people overseas.”
“I went out of unconditional love. For them, because I saw Palestinians in tears, in sadness, and at a very low overall point. I saw that through the phone. You don’t think that I saw that, and was okay with the position I was in? I’m not okay with that.”
Doing As Much As Possible
Once he arrived, Abushaar wanted to do as much as possible for as many people as he could. Teaching English gave him a place to start, but the friendships he formed helped him reach beyond the classroom.
Through those connections, he found children who needed supplies and local organizations that could put his help to use.
“It was never about what I got out of it, it was what I could do to help them,” said Abushaar. “If I’m human, then I’m going to help somebody who asks for help. At first, I was linked up with an organization called Go Palestine. I ended up in a city called Hebron. What I was only supposed to do was go there and teach English. But I knew that was far from the end of what I’d do.”
“As I was teaching English, I made connections left and right. I ended up becoming great friends with this guy named Ibraheem, and he’s still my best friend today. He owns a warehouse where he supplies the Bodegas with chips, crackers, candy, sodas. He had so many connections in Palestine, but his Mom was a charity organizer. I got to make about 150 Eid packages for children, and each package would have candy, a toy, a book, and stuff like that, and I just distributed that amongst children in need.”
“I also started working with the SOS Children’s Village in Bethlehem, which is an organization that takes care of orphans. My boy Ibraheem connected me with them and they gave me a whole list of supplies that they needed. I bought them backpacks, toiletries, food, and other things. We had this big bus, and we filled the entire trunk with supplies, dropped it off to them, and just went on my way. As I was doing this, I was posting to Instagram and people were sending me money. I spent every dollar on charity.”
“Another thing I did was buy a whole bunch of clothes for children. I also worked for the Lajee Center in Bethlehem which directly works with one of the refugee camps. I tried to get as much work as I could do there. It was nice to just help. That’s all I wanted to do, just help.”
‘Captain’ Abushaar
As word spread about his efforts, Abushaar became a familiar face in Hebron.
People he had arrived to help became friends, and the connections he made continued long after he left. Locals even gave him a nickname, “Captain,” in recognition of his support for their city.
Abushaar held those relationships close, but there were painful memories alongside the good ones. Leaving did not mean he could simply return to the life he had known before.
“I felt depressed when I came home and homesick because I had met a lot of family and friends over there,” he shared. “But I didn’t know how to emotionally explain my experience to anybody. I went through a lot of shit. It was easier out there because I had my Palestinian brothers who understood. There was a lot of empathy because they had to go through it too.”
“When I saw rockets for the first time from Iran shooting over my head, I’m like holy shit, I’m actually in a war zone. The craziest thing is this is what my people see daily, and nobody seems shaken by it.”
“I’m watching the skies, and no doubt my heart rate shot way up. I’m saying to myself ‘What have I gotten myself into?’. I got beat by an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldier, and thrown into a corner, and six IDF soldiers were pointing weapons at me, screaming at me in Hebrew and Arabic. I saw Palestinian men getting frisked by IDF soldiers on a wall. Things you see in movies. I went through some crazy shit.”
“I’m a very clean person. I don’t drink, smoke, go to clubs, or anything like that. It got to the point where my last month there, I started smoking cigarettes because I couldn’t handle how stressful the situation was at some points.”
For Palestine
Abushaar stayed true to his word, helping his people and embracing both the challenges and rewards that came with it. Returning to MMA added another hurdle as he readjusted to life in the United States.
Within three months of returning, Abushaar had found a new place to live and a new job. Rebuilding his life meant handling those everyday responsibilities while carrying the emotional weight of what he had experienced.
Loai Abushaar aims to channel his renewed motivation into building a successful MMA career. He wants to unite people through his love and compassion while representing Palestine as a fighter and inspiring his community.
