ENGLISHMAN Carl ‘The Bomber’ Booth claimed the welterweight belt of Brave Two: Dynasty when he beat Russia’s Gadzhimusa Gaziev with a technical knockout at the Khalifa Sports City Hall last night.
The pair put on a tough fight, but Booth delivered a set of left and right punches that floored Gaziev and Booth was quick to land on top of him. Gaziev was bleeding when the referee ended the fight.
“I was focusing on my training before the fight. I’m here to fight and I won it. I’m ready to take anyone on, they make the fight and I’ll be here to win it,” said an excited Booth.
Bahraini Hamza Kooheji, nicknamed Pride of the Kingdom, had to wait till the end of the third round to be announced winner in the bantam weight category defeating Philippines’ Jeremy Pacatiw by unanimous decision.
The win also means Kooheji has managed to deal Pacatiw his first defeat, breaking his consecutive five-match win record.
“It was a tough game, Pacatiw was a tough opponent. The hard part about it was the weight change I had to go through but my nutrionist put a lot of work before the fight,” Kooheji said.
Kooheji also hailed the amazing support he received from fans attending the event.
“Before my fight, I bet on the Bahraini supporters to be way more than Filipino fans in the stands, and they did not let me down,” he added.
The Bahraini MMA fighter said he would love to one day win the Brave Belt.
“In the long term, I want to win the belt, it is the most important thing to me; but for now, I want to celebrate this win by grabbing myself a pizza,” Kooheji, 23, jokingly said.
Morrocan fighter Ottman Azaitar, training in Germany, found his long-awaited win against Irish Kevin Koldobsky, who trains in Argentina, after the pair had a verbal battle at the weigh-ins.
Although the win came by unanimous decision, Azaitar was the more dominant and closer to winning on many occasions.
Koldobsky had earlier apologised to the Morrocan fighter for claiming he had won the fight even before they entered the cage, which prompted Azaitar to retort.
“I thank God for the win. Koldobsky predicted the winner but God is stronger than any man. You cannot predict something you don’t know,” Azaitar said.
Jordan’s Jarrah Al Silawi displayed fine set of skills using a Kimura finish to defeat Swedish fighter Erik Carlsson a minute and a half into the second round.
Al Silawi was more dominant during the bout having put his opponent to the ground on a couple of occasions.
After the win, Al Silawi said that following game plan and studying his opponent were the key factors in the win.
“I studied Carlsson very well, I assessed his strengths and weaknesses and I knew that he usually keeps it going till round three to win,” Al Silawi said.
“The key however was to serve him with the Kimura finish before going into round three were he usually has a better chance because of his pacing of the fight.”
The last fight of the main cards saw Walel Watson fall to defeat against Algeria’s Elias Boudegzdame.
In what is considered to be the biggest win of Bougezdame’s career, he managed to get the win in the first round after Watson’s submission, being on the receiving end of a Kimura.
The preliminary fights saw 20-year-old Brazilian Alex Da Silva extend his undefeated run to 18 fights after registering a victory over American fighter Daniel Swan in the featherweight category.
It took Gurdarshan ‘St. Lion’ Mangat 20 seconds into the second round to overcome Philippines’ Troy Bantiag with a technical knockout.
America’s Tyree Fortune was announced winner of his battle against Ireland’s Ben Forsyth with a unanimous decision, while Egypt’s Ahmed Fares tapped out in the second round of his fight with Cristian Quinones from Mexico.
The last fight in the preliminary stages saw Filipino Jomar Paac defeat Pakistan’s Haidar Farman by a unanimous decision after he managed to dominate and get his opponent to bleed on multiple occasions.