MMA – BAHRAIN bagged a sensational nine medals, headlined by four gold, in the 2025 IMMAF Asian Championships, held at Jounieh, Lebanon.
The kingdom’s MMA superstars and reigning three-time world champions Gimbat Magomedov and Gadzhi Gadzhiev were amongst the gold medallists, as were Isaev Abdula and Arsen Suleimanov.
Magomedov struck gold in the senior men’s super welterweight 79.4kg category, while Gadzhiev triumphed in the senior men’s super middleweight 88.4kg division. Abdula was crowned champion in the senior men’s light heavyweight 93kg weight class, and Suleimanov won in the junior men’s light heavyweight 93kg category.
Aside from the four gold, Bahrain also came away with five other medals in this year’s IMMAF Asian Championships, including one silver and four bronze – all in the youth divisions.
Rashed Alsaleh captured the silver medal in the youth men’s C 44kg, Abdulla Hussain won bronze in the youth men’s B 44kg division, Mohammad Abubaqr took bronze in the youth men’s C 37kg, Jassim Abubaqr claimed bronze in the youth men’s D 37kg, and Abdulla Qahtan captured bronze in the youth men’s A featherweight 65.8kg category.
Magomedov claimed his super welterweight continental title after defeating Safar-Makhsum Safarov from Tajikistan in their title-decider. Magomedov won by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the final 30-27 in his favour. The bronze medals were shared by Hadi Falah from Syria and Christopher Nasr from Lebanon.
Gadzhiev, meanwhile, bagged his super middleweight gold after defeating Hadi Awada from Lebanon in their title bout. Gadzhiev was not to be denied, submitting Awada with an armbar for the win.
Abdula claimed Bahrain’s third gold medal amongst the seniors after beating Abylay Shakirbekov from Kazakhstan in their light heavyweight final. He triumphed by unanimous decision, with one judge scoring the fight 30-27 and the other two at 29-28. Lebanon’s Ihab Abdallah finished as the bronze-medallist.
Suleimanov then captured his junior gold in the light heavyweight category’s title-decider, where he took on Anthony Loutfi from Lebanon. Suleimanov was a force in the contest, winning with an armbar submission for his gold medal. Taking bronze was George Nasrallah, also from Lebanon.
Following their title triumphs, Bahrain MMA Federation president Mohammed Qamber praised the unwavering support of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority (GSA) chairman, and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and the continuous follow-up of GSA deputy chairman and Bahrain Combat Sports Council president Shaikh Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, who have propelled the kingdom’s combat sports – particularly MMA – to new heights.
The gold medals for Magomedov, Gadzhiev, and Suleimanov continued their impressive 2025. All three were also gold-medallists at this year’s IMMAF World Championships, held last October in Tbilisi, Georgia.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))