Former Matrix
Fight Night featherweight champion Sanjeet
Budhwar (11-2) recorded his 11th professional victory at
MFN 14, as he knocked out Afghanistan’s Abdul
Azim Badakhshi (14-4) in their main event meeting on Saturday
at the Noida Indoor Stadium, in Uttar Pradesh, India.
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The opening minutes of the first frame saw both competitors feel
each other out, with Badakhshi looking to control the center while
keeping his foe on the end of creative spinning-kick attacks and
punches. Budhwar, on the other hand, seemed content staying on the
outside while making his reads, clearly looking for counter shots.
However, the round soon came to a halt, first due to a groin strike
by Badakhshi followed by an accidental eye poke by the Afghan with
10 seconds left in the first stanza.
Following a check-up on Budhwar by the ringside physicians and an
eight-minute gap in action, the athletes resumed directly in Round
2. Budhwar managed to control the center of the cage with his
forward pressure but the Afghan continued to sneakily maintain
distance, employing switch kicks to the head coupled with inside
leg kicks.
Budhwar continued to stalk Badakhshi, looking to unload his power
while landing a stiff jab that visibly wobbled his opponent.
Although Badakhshi got back to pressuring Budhwar with kicks to the
body and head, Budhwar found an opening to uncork a thunderous left
hook that sent his adversary crashing to the canvas. Badakhshi also
landed a hook of his own on the former champion at the same time, a
strike that wobbled Budhwar but didn’t stop him from attempting to
land another shot on his downed Afghan adversary, forcing referee
Jim Perdios to stop the fight at the 3:18 mark of Round 2.
In the co-main event, Chungren Koren (6-1) secured the interim
bantamweight title after putting on a grappling clinic against
former Brave CF competitor Mohammad Farhad (12-5) and stopping him
at the3:48 mark of Round 4 with his relentless ground-and-pound
assault.
In other action, Dushyant
Singh walked away with a unanimous decision win over Mairidin
Newmai in a bantamweight meeting; Neeraj
Panghal took a unanimous verdict against Sk Akib Ali
in a lightweight clash; Owais
Yaqoob earned a nod from all three judges in his lightweight
contest with Afghanistan’s Azim
Mokhlis; Sahil Rana
racked up his ninth professional victory with a dominant unanimous
decision victory over Tanzania’s Chris
Tibenda in a bantamweight tilt; Kapil Kumar
earned his first professional win with a unanimous decision victory
over Ajay Payal
in their bantamweight scrap; 19-year-od Pravin Wagh
eked out a majority decision win over Balveer
Singh Tomar at 135 pounds; Ishika
Thite submitted Tenzin Pema
with a rear-naked choke at the 4:04 mark of Round 1 in an
atomweight contest and Aminder
Bisht defeated Arsenba
Ozukum via knockout 1:13 into Round 2 at flyweight.