With the weight of a world on his shoulders, Mehdi Baghdad considers himself the past, present, and future of Arab MMA

Many fighters have played a particularly significant role in facilitating the growth of Mixed Martial Arts in their respective countries: Georges St-Pierre for Canada, Conor McGregor for Ireland and Alexander Gustafsson for Sweden, just to name a few. Yet there is one fighter who feels he is carrying the weight of an entire world on his shoulders - the Arab world - and believes it is only a matter of time before he joins the aforementioned list.

Although born and raised in Paris, France, Mehdi Baghdad (10-3) considers himself to be the prime representative of the Middle Eastern fighting spirit. An Algerian well versed in three languages, including his native tongue, Baghdad has lived on multiple continents and has proudly worn his Arab stripes throughout that period - whether it be in Brazil, training alongside Junior dos Santos; in Japan, sparring with the likes of Ricardo Arona and Kazushi Sakuraba; or even in Portland, where he grappled with the likes of Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen.

"I represent Arabic fighters," Baghdad told BloodyElbow.com. "I don't disrespect other fighters, but there are many good Arabic fighters around the world that need to show that they are Arab. Not ‘Oh, I'm from France' or ‘I'm from Canada.' Look at your face; you are Arabic. You are born there [abroad] but it is not who you are. I am born in France and I am happy to be French, but I also have to stay Arabic. It is not because you are born in Senegal so you are Senegalese."

After waiting for almost a year to step back in the cage - a decision that was beyond his control since it appeared that no one was keen on fighting him - Baghdad signed a contract with Resurrection Fighting Alliance, where he made his debut in September against Evan DeLong. The fight lasted under two minutes and ended in a vicious TKO victory for ‘The Sultan.'

Watch the clip below starting at 0:48

"I was training a lot. My last fight (before that) was November (2013) and I was training a lot for it. I was ready to fight. I am a Muay Thai champion and train with the best fighters in the world. Nobody will fight me. I have eight or nine guys pull out from fights, so it is hard to find a fight for me. Two months before my fight, I signed with RFA; Ed Soares is my manager, and I was happy that somebody wanted to fight me.  I trained hard and proved my experience. Everybody say ‘wow, that was crazy,' but I trained for this. I think I am on a big level."

With that emphatic victory behind him, Baghdad revealed that his next fight would be for the RFA lightweight title. Although the fight for the vacant title has not been finalized yet, a win would give Baghdad a fantastic opportunity to offer his service to the UFC.

"I'm supposed to fight for the belt in RFA at 155 (pounds), because the guy who had the belt (Christos Giagos) just signed with the UFC. It is not finalized right now but I will fight for the belt."

While it appears the stars are aligning for the veteran fighter, he explained that he achieved his current success without ever going through a dedicated training camp. Instead, he has focused on participating in the camps of elite fighters such as Anderson Silva, Tarec Saffiedine and Lyoto Machida - fighters with whom he shares a gym with at Black House MMA.

"Right now, I'm not going to fight the biggest names in the world, so I don't really have a training camp. I just train and I help the training camps of Anderson Silva by sparring. Right now I'm sparring with Lyoto Machida, Tarec Saffiedine as well. I follow the camps for those guys and I stay ready for every fight.

"When I know I am going to fight a really bad guy like Ben Henderson or one of the best fighters from the UFC, then I'll go in an train really, really hard in a crazy camp. Right now I'm more, whatever. I know my level and I know the guy's level."

Apart from advancing his professional career, Baghdad also joined Arab MMA reality show ‘Al Batal,' where he served as coach at the helm of a team of young Arab prospects. The show, which airs on FOX Movies in the Middle East region, was an opportunity that Baghdad simply could not refuse.

"I was really happy to join ‘Al Batal' and to teach my brothers because everybody was Arabic and this made me really happy," he explained. "We have the same blood. We can know what is going on. So I was really happy. We trained hard. I know it is going to be a really great show."

Although the first season of the show was well produced and shed light on the fighting culture in the Middle East, it hardly featured any notable talent. This was evident in the low level fights that concluded each of the episodes.

Aware of this fault, Baghdad had his doubts about the level of talent that would be at his disposal during the filming period.

"When they first asked me to join the show, I watched the first season of the show and said ‘wow, this is going to be hard work. Why did you sign these guys?'

However, his doubts were quickly put to rest when he had the opportunity to work with his team for a short while. The key, Baghdad suggests, was that the ‘Al Batal' production team had expanded their search for Arab fighters outside of the confines of the Middle East region. Instead of fighters based in North Africa and the Gulf region, many of the cast members resided in North America and Europe, where they had access to better training facilities and coaching.

"Everybody thinks Arabic fighters means they have to be in an Arab-speaking countries," said Baghdad. "No, they live all around the world. I'm from France; I lived in America, moved to Brazil - everywhere there are Arabic fighters. (On the team) there was one from Canada, one from America, one from France, Spain."

Having inspired a new generation of potential talent in the region, Baghdad hopes to use his career as a catapult for the overall betterment of MMA in the Middle East region. With each impressive victory, he proudly preaches his heritage and edges closer to his dream of joining the UFC.

"Right now, we don't really have any representation for Arabic fighters. Some fighters have Arabic names like ‘Abdul' but they don't really represent Arabs. I want to prove to the whole world who the real Arabic fighters are. We have a big heart and I want to prove this to everybody."