Abu Dhabi: The UAE’s only professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, Ahmad Al Darmaki, must be contemplating his future in the sport after suffering his fourth defeat in as many bouts in devastating fashion on Tuesday evening.
Al Darmaki was seeking revenge over Artiyom Gorodynets, who beat him last year, at the Abu Dhabi Warriors 4 event at the IPIC Arena — but suffered a tame technical knockout just two minutes into the featherweight (66kgs) encounter.
The Fujairah-born 27-year-old entered the ring draped in the UAE flag and was loudly acclaimed by the several hundred people in attendance, but then was overcome with consummate ease by his Ukrainian opponent.
Al Darmaki — who told Gulf News last week that his training in the sweltering heat of the Abu Dhabi desert would prove decisive in the ring — charged at Gorodynets from the first bell but was soon pinned to the floor. Gorodynets then showed no mercy as he unleashed a flurry of punches to the side of the head of Al Darmaki, leaving the referee with no option but to stop the fight.
Elsewhere on the 10-bout card, fight fans had much to savour, including an explosive finale from the heavyweight headliner. It may have lasted only just over a minute, but those of masochistic bent will have relished the thudding right by the American Paul Buentello which sent his compatriot Eric Pindle tumbling to the canvas.
Pindle — who produced an admiring thumbs-up to his conqueror from the ground — had walked straight on to the punch, however, having kicked out to Buentello’s side in ungainly fashion.
An elated Buentello later looked ahead to the prospect of a world heavyweight fight in Abu Dhabi later in the year.
“That would be nice, really nice,” he said. “I feel so right and I’d fight anybody.”
“I’ve been a warrior for a long time, I love it, I had a great time,” the 41-year-old added. “I love Abu Dhabi, I want to come back. It’s the warrior’s spirit, I really want to come back and give good knockouts.”
Earlier, French-Algerian Tahar Hadbi produced the finish of the night when his brutal right knocked the Japanese Yoichiro Sato clean out in the welterweight (77kgs) division. It was one of six fights that did not last the distance of the three five-minute rounds — with five ending in the first.
ABU DHABI WARRIORS 4 RESULTS
• Pavel Gordeev (Rus) beat Jason Santana (USA) by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Diego Gonzalez (Swe) beat Carlos Moyano (Col) by tap-out, 2nd round
• Tahar Hadbi (Alg/Fra) beat Yoichiro Sato (Jap) by technical knockout, 1st round
• Artiyom Gorodynets (Ukr) beat Ahmad Al Darmaki (UAE) by technical knockout, 1st round
• Alexey Polpudnikov (Rus) beat Antonio Magno Lima Perera (Bra) by technical knockout, 1st round
• Andreas Michailidis (Greece) beat Ion Pascu (Rom) by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Joachim Christensen (Den) beat Anthony Ruiz (USA) by tap-out, 1st round
• Akop Stepanyan (Armenia) beat Will Chope (USA) by a split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Alexander Sarnavskiy (Rus) beat Jorge Patino (US) by a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Paul Buentello (USA) beat Eric Prindle by knockout, 1st round
