Bahrain won the inaugural MMA Super Cup in emphatic style yesterday, beating Ireland 7-0 in bouts contested in different mixed martial arts (MMA) weight categories.
The MMA Super Cup is a new amateur tournament organised by the Brave Combat Federation (Brave CF) in association with the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF).
Eight of the world’s best teams – Kazakhstan, Ireland, Mexico, Tajikistan, Oceania Champions and hosts Bahrain along with wild-cards Balkan Champions and Arab Champions – took part in the tournament staged at the Khalifa Sports City Arena as part of the Brave International Combat Week.
Confetti rained down on the winners as Brave CF president Mohammed ‘The Hawk’ Shahid and Bahrain Mixed Martial Arts Federation (BMMAF) president Mohammed Qamber joined IMMAF president Kerrith Brown as he handed the glittering trophy to the Bahrain head coach Elder Eldarov, triggering cries of joy from his team once he passed it over to them.
The champions received $100,000, the largest winning purse in MMA amateur fight history, while runners-up Ireland netted $75,000. Kazakhstan, who beat Mexico in a third-place play-off earlier in the day, took home $50,000.
Supreme Council for Youth and Sport first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who set up Brave CF in 2016, sat cage-side throughout the evening, encouraging the home team’s fighters.
The seven-bout final started in dominating style with the home side impressing when Bahrain’s Sabrina Laurentina De Souza forced Ireland’s Kerry Ann Vernon to tap out with four seconds still to go in the first round of the three-round, female bantamweight contest.
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Although the remaining six fights were all contested by male fighters, they played out in the same pattern, with the Bahrain team members completely outclassing their opponents. With the gulf in talent and ability so large, only two of those bouts lasted the entire three rounds while two others finished before the clock had run out for the second round.
Most refreshingly, the spirit with which fighters from both teams approached their bouts was excellent with the Irish athletes, in particular, demonstrating good-natured grace even in a crushing team defeat.
Earlier, the final got underway in creative fashion when a helicopter, bearing the trophy, touched down in the football field adjacent to the arena where the combat would take place. The landing was captured live by cameras and relayed on giant screens inside the sporting complex, to the delight of a festive audience.
That joyful mood remained undimmed as the evening wore on and culminated in a delighted audience leaving the arena in an exuberant mood once Bahrain had sealed victory.
Results - Female Bantamweight: Sabrina Laurentina de Souza) bt Kerry Ann Vernon - 1st round; Featherweight: Haji Mohamed Ali bt Jordan Bradshaw - 2nd round; Lightweight: Kurban Idrisov bt Lewis Byrne - unanimous decision; Welterweight: Magomed Isaev bt Jordan Furey - 1st round; Middleweight: Ramazan Gitinov bt Cameron Clements - 2nd round; Light Heavyweight: Gadzhi Gadzhiev bt Dennis Perry - 1st round; Heavyweight: Sultan Gapizov bt Gustavo Lopez - Unanimous decision.
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