Mohammed Mardi declared winning the Arab Muaythai Fight Night welterweight title as a “very special” moment in his illustrious career after being crowned the event's first champion at Space 42 Arena in Abu Dhabi.
The 22-year-old Emirati is a four-time winner in the Muaythai Worlds, including the IFMA Youth Worlds, and compared his title victory to his world championship gold medals.
“I’m so proud to hold this belt in this inaugural competition that drew professional fighters from the Arab World,” Mardi told The National after his unanimous decision victory over the Algerian Lyes Ouari in the main title contest.
“This is a great honour for me and a very special title for me, the UAE and for the home fans as the first champion of the Arab Muaythai Night. This is a very exciting and prestigious competition and I’m glad to be the first winner.
“I want to thank the fans who came in numbers to keep me going throughout this competition. And, of course, the support of my trainers and teammates that provided me the persistence, passion, and courage to take the fight against my opponent in the main final.”
Mardi dominated the title fight after inflicting a deep cut on Ouari’s forehead in the first round. He used his elbows to create the wound and used his advantage to rack up the points in the next two rounds.
“I think I had a pretty good first round and kept that advantage going by using my elbows and high kicks in the next two rounds," Mardi said. "It wasn’t as easy as it looked, though. Lyse is an experienced fighter with a 17-6 (win-loss) professional record and he kept coming at me despite the early damage to his forehead.”
To reach the main final, both Mardi and Ouari had to overcome a fight each in the preliminary rounds, each claiming unanimous decisions over Moroccan Hamza Rachid and Sajjad Basheer of Iraq, respectively.
It was a successful night for the UAE fighters with all four emerging victorious. Ahmed Al Shammar got the better of Libyan Mohamad Alkharraz in the opening bantamweight clash of the 15-fight card; Rafi Ramzi won by unanimous decision over Tunisian Souhaib Skik in a light-heavyweight bout; and Ibrahim Bilal stopped Bahman Mohammed of Iraq in Round 3.
The co-main heavyweight contest between Moroccan Othmane Fekaki and Tunisian Mohamed Trabelsi ended in a tie with all three judges declaring the final round 28-28.
Tarek Al Muhairi, General Secretary of both the UAE Muaythai and Kickboxing Federation and the Arab Muaythai Federation, was full of praise for the inaugural Arab Muaythai Fight Night.
“It was a huge success in every aspect of this competition,” he said. “Every contest was of quality, the crowd and atmosphere was great, and for us, a brilliant start to this exciting event.
“This is going to be a permanent fixture as a Muaythai Tour event for the professionals with a title contest introduced at every fight night.
“The plan is to stage the fight nights in different cities in the Arab World. We are yet to decide where the next fight night will be held as we must go through the muaythai world calendar for a window, but for sure, from the success we have had at this inaugural event, the fight night is going to go places.”
Stephan Fox, general secretary of the International Federation of Muaythai Amateur and vice president of the World Muaythai Council, described the Arab Muaythai Fight Night as a milestone for the sport.
“Muaythai has a strong presence in the Arab World and these kinds of events are only going to strengthen and accelerate the growth of the sport in the region,” he said.
“We are now also in the Islamic Games from next year onwards, so we need to build all the Arab countries. And tonight, we have seen amazing stand-ups from all the participants. There is a big, big way forward.
“Abu Dhabi and the UAE have become one of the strongest countries in the world. We have seen it at the last senior World Championship.
“You have seen the champion tonight, he (Mardi) comes from the youth, he was the former youth world champion. So, I think the UAE Muaythai Federation is doing it very smart by building on the next generation, having a strong youth and therefore the future looks very bright.”
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