MMA – RISING mixed martial arts (MMA) star Arsen Suleimanov became Bahrain’s newest world champion last night.
The 20-year-old captured the world title in the junior men’s light heavyweight 93kg category at the 2025 IMMAF World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia.
He secured his crown with a rear-naked choke submission victory against Iigilik Avazov of Kyrgyzstan in their division final yesterday.
With his win, Suleimanov bagged Bahrain’s first medal at this year’s edition of the worlds, which are being organised by the International MMA Federation (IMMAF) and held as part of BRAVE International Combat week at the Georgian capital.
Bahrain’s MMA national team head coach Eldar Eldarov praised Suleimanov for his triumph and dubbed him as “the next big thing” in the sport – already becoming a world champion in his debut appearance on the world stage.
“It’s the first international competition for him and he is now a world champion,” Eldarov told the GDN last night from the Georgian capital.
“He is very young and already at the top of his game. We are expecting him to be the next big thing in international MMA.”
Suleimanov won all three of his bouts en route to clinching his gold last night. He began his campaign with a triangle choke submission victory against Volodymyr Mukan from Ukraine in the quarter-finals, and then defeated Denys Lushpaiev, also from Ukraine, by unanimous decision in the semis.
Lushpaiev and Aslan Koshiyev from Kazakhstan shared the bronze medals in their division, joining Suleimanov and Avazov on the podium.
Meanwhile, two other Bahraini MMA stars are in action today, hoping to strike gold in their respective senior men’s classes.
They include Gimbat Magomedov and Gadzhi Gadzhiev, both two-time reigning world champions. Magomedov will be stepping into the cage in the super welterweight 79.4kg final where he will lock horns with Mirza Gajievi from Georgia, while Gadzhiev will be competing in the super middleweight 88.4kg world title-decider against Doszhan Yesbol from Kazakhstan.
Both fighters are aiming to become three-time MMA world champions for Bahrain.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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