Abu Dhabi: The Emirati fighter showed a lot of heart and tenacity in a three round slugfest against Italy's Paulo Lamberto.
Hassan Al Rumaithi won a unanimous decision in a fight where he came close to both winning and losing.
In a standup striking fight Al Rumaithi took the advantage keeping the Italian against the cage for most of the fight. Lamberto was taken down late in the first round and Al Rumaithi began to ground and pound him.
The crowd was on it's feet sensing a Technical Knock Out (TKO), the hall at ADNEC with the roar of the crowd for the home town favourite. But the Italian managed to survive and was saved by the bell.
Round two started off as a continuation to the first with Al Rumaithi again dominating the standing game.
Lamberto was rocked with an over hand right late in the round, and the Emirati smelling blood began so swing haymaker after haymaker but the italian managed to survive again on wobbly legs.
Round three was very quiet with both fighters exhausted. Al Rumaithi gassed himself out in the last round with the big swings and now was in trouble. Lamberto managed to stagger the Emirati halfway throu the round but never went in to try and finish.
Judges scored the fight 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 for a unanimous decision to Al Rumaithi.
After the fight Al Rumaithi thanked the fans for their support and said he couldn't have done it without the help of his brothers and coaches at the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC)
