Dubai: Moroccan Badr Hari has targeted the end-of-season $1 million jackpot after easily winning the opening round of the Global Fighting Championship (GFC) at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) on Thursday night.
Hari was unstoppable as he demolished both his opponents to walk away with the night’s top prize of Dh1 million, before revealing his intent on winning the overall jackpot as well.
In his semi-final, the 29-year-old Dutchman of Moroccan origin took just one minute and 27 seconds to subdue former world champion Stefan Leko. And, in the final, cheered on by a near-capacity crowd of more than 4,000 fans, Hari finished off Australia’s Peter Graham in 1min 26sec.
“I did not come to Dubai to do sightseeing. I am here to fight these guys and win. This is just the beginning for me and my focus is to win the $1 million fight,” Hari told Gulf News.
“I can be quite a difficult guy to work with. I love this place and I am ready for anyone who wants to take me on. The good thing is that I deliver in the ring. I came here to win and nothing would have denied me a victory here.”
Shaikh Mohammad Bin Sultan Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Chief Patron of Golden Cage Promotions, was the guest of honour along with former Argentine football star and Dubai Sports Council ambassador Diego Maradona.
The top four kickboxers after the four GFC preliminary rounds — the dates and venues of the next three have yet to be confirmed — will qualify for the final GFC Grand Prix, with the winner of that taking home the $1 million.
“We need to bring in a strong and worthy opponent for such a class fighter,” Golden Cage promoter Prince Amir Shafypour, himself a well-known former international kick-boxer, said.
Meanwhile, fighters from Turkey dominated the seven under-card fights held alongside the main four-man competition.
Fatih Ulusoy, dubbed ‘The Ottoman’, pummelled Indian-born Jaideep ‘Heart’ Singh by a technical knockout midway through the third and final round.
Ulusoy’s countryman Gokhan ‘Pitbull’ Turkyilmaz had very little difficulty in winning a unanimous decision against Vaughn Donayre of the Philippines in their mixed martial arts (MMA) lightweight division fight.
Erkan Varol was the third winner from Turkey as he handed down a fifth loss in 16 fights to Iran’s Abbas ‘Tiger’ Mollamahdi when all three judges scored in favour of the 32-year-old.
