Sport | Other Sports
Fight night delight in Abu Dhabi debut
Championship's first event thrills fans
- By Mohammed N. Al Khan, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 May 16, 2010
- Image Credit: Ahmed Kutty/Gulf News
- The UAE's Hassan Al Rumaithi made quick work of his battle against Silviano Valenti at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, winning with a TKO in round one.
Abu Dhabi: There were knock outs, submissions, take downs and slams as the first Abu Dhabi Fighting Championship (ADFC) showcased Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in all its guts and glory.
The event held a captive audience on the edge of their seats for every fight.
Although this was only the second MMA event in the UAE, the ADFC did well to show what the sport is all about. It also more than compensated for April's UFC 112 farce, which left a bad taste in the mouths of fans.
Tunisian Aymen Ben Ali, fighting out of Ajman, making his MMA debut, put up a great fight, getting good take downs and threatening with a rear naked choke, but Italian grappler Michele Mirabella landed a flurry of punches to win it by TKO in the second.
Dubai's Contender MMA fighter Malik Omarov delivered the first KO of the night at only 1:19 in the first round, and team-mate Tam Khan had a hard-fought TKO win in the third round after chopping down Italian Evasio D'onoforio with sharp leg kicks throughout.
All three fighters from the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) put up impressive performances, justifying its high reputation.
ADCC's Maiky Reiter had the only submission of the night with a beautiful Kimura arm-lock 1:53 into the first round.
The high point of the evening came with the victory of Emirati MMA exponent Hassan Al Rumaithi. The lightweight won by a TKO late in the first round, bringing his record to 2-1-0.
ADCC instructor Marcos Oliveira won his main event against Johan Romming with the KO of the night only 17 seconds into the first round.
Neil Wain won a stand-up battle against Przemyslaw Mysiala winning by TKO late in the fight.
Total domination
Shamil Abdurahimov took control of the fight through all three gruelling rounds and won a unanimous decision over American Jeff Monson.
In the final fight, Dave Herman dominated throughout. The 196cm tall American punished Cameroon's Thierry Sokoudjou while working his reach advantage with front kicks.
But Herman landed two knees to Sokoudjou's head while he was on the ground — an illegal move in many MMA franchises, though legal in the Japanese Sengoku Championships that Herman fights in.
The African Assassin could not continue, and won by disqualification.
Marcos Oliveira, Neil Wain, Shamil Abdulrahimov and Thierry Sokoudjou advance to the semifinal on October 15 where they could win Dh1,000,000.
Ecstatic organiser
Suhail Nemri, CEO of I SEE Events and the man responsible for creating the ADFC, was ecstatic that the event was a huge hit.
"We did it!" he told Gulf News, unable to hide his excitement. "It was a great night of fights, I couldn't have hoped for a better performance — I mean only one decision the whole night, it doesn't get much better. But that is the challenge for Round Two in October: it will be bigger and better."
Nemri added that he intends to bring back Johan Romming and Przemyslaw Mysiala.
"I think they are great fighters and I would love to have them come back and fight here again. They may be out of the tournament but not out of the ADFC."
He also said he would like to have Sergie Kharitonov fight in the next round if he recovers in time. A late injury forced Kharitonov to pull out of the tournament.
He plans to have the next event air live on Abu Dhabi Sports.
- M. N. A. K.
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