The
Professional Fighters League on Friday descended on King Saud
University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with the PFL Middle
East and North Africa finals serving as the appetizer for the
PFL 2024 Season Championships. Four regional fighters were
crowned as PFL MENA champions and could potentially find themselves
a part of next season’s global showcase.
Ali
Taleb quickly and brutally won the PFL MENA bantamweight title
in one round after catching Rachid El
Hazoume with an uppercut from the underworld. With the Moroccan
staggered, Taleb put the finishing touches on his beatdown with a
crispy right hook that put El Hozoume down for the count. The win
marked Taleb’s second-straight first-round knockout.
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Mohsen
Mohammadseifi claimed the PFL MENA lightweight title after
unanimously outpointing Lebananon’s Georges Eid:
50-45, 50-45, 49-46. Despite the lopsided scores, the fight was
much closer. Eid’s length kept Mohammadseifi at range, and the
fight was held at a mild pace. Mohammadseifi’s jab and a few
flurries started to give him an edge through the middle rounds, but
neither fighter did a clear job of separating himself. Eid had his
moments, but Mohammadseifi was routinely the busier fighter, and
the activity paid off.
Omar El
Dafrawy came into the PFL MENA welterweight title on a
six-fight winning streak but would have to avenge his last loss as
a pro to claim the $100,000 grand prize. Standing in his way was
undefeated American Kickboxing Academy product Mohammad
Alaqraa. Alaqraa outpointed El Dafrawy a year ago and looked
primed to stop him in the first round, but the Egyptian weathered
the storm. After a break in the action following a low blow, El
Dafrawy made Alaquraa pay as he shot for a single leg. El Dafrawy
froze his man with a sneaky left hook on the button before landing
several unanswered punches that forced referee Gerd Ritcher to
intervene. The PFL MENA featherweight finale was short, sweet and violent.
Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah
Al-Qahtani and Morocco’s Maraoune
Bellagouit traded bombs throughout the first round of their
championship fight, and it was clear that neither man had
intentions of going the distance. Both fighters were clipped and
bloodied, but it was Al-Qahtani who was left standing following a
brutal right hand midway through the first round.
Amateur atomweight standout Hattan
Alsaif showcased her skills in a second-round finish over
Lilia
Osmani. Alsaif was simply too much for Osmani, dominating her
in the clinch and tuning her up with hard knees and elbows. Osmani
held on to the second round, but she had nothing to offer the local
Riyadh native and was saved by referee Basheer Reda. The end came
97 seconds into Round 2.
Costello
van Steenis kicked off the PFL MENA championships with a bang.
The Dutch Spaniard wasted little time crashing his shin straight
into the unsuspecting jaw of Joao
Vitor Ramos Dantas, knocking him out cold 46 seconds into the
first round of their middleweight showcase bout. The win marked van
Steenis’ second finish of 2024.
SBG Ireland prospect Asael
Adjoudj nearly saw his eight-fight winning streak slip through
his fingers, but he caught grasp of Jose Perez’s
neck just in time. After a competitive first round between the two
featherweights, Perez fully mounted Adjoudj and rained down blows
to close out the second stanza. Down on the cards, Adjoudj took the
judges out of play with a guillotine 1:10 into the final round.
A 2024 PFL featherweight semifinalist, Gabriel
Braga bounced back with a solid victory over Ultimate Fighting
Championship and Bellator MMA alum Jeremy
Kennedy. The two featherweights fought furiously and were tied
a round apiece heading into the fight-deciding final five minutes.
Braga’s wrestling ultimately stifled the Canadian and swayed the
judges into a close but clear unanimous decision: 29-28, 29-28 and
29-28.
Two rising undefeated heavyweight prospects shared the SmartCage,
as England’s Abraham
Bably met Tunisia’s Slim
Trabelsi. Bably was the sharper and faster fighter early,
catching Trabelsi repeatedly with the left hook. However, the
American Kickboxing Academy product was not deterred. Trabelsi
charged forward and finished the fight in a dominant position once
Bably’s gas tank evaporated. It was a tough fight to score, but
ultimately, two judges favored Trabelsi’s strong finish over
Bably’s flash: 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28.
Bellator veteran Mansour
Barnaoui dug deep and pulled out a thrilling third-round finish
via rear-naked choke on London’s Alfie Davis
in his PFL debut. After starting the fight strong, “The Afro
Samurai” faded in the second round. Davis was on his way to a
fourth straight win before he was stunned by a hard right hand from
the Frenchman. Barnaoui followed up his assault with vicious knees
and elbows from the Thai clinch before finishing Davis on the
ground 3:41 into Round 3. It was Barnaoui’s 15th career submission
win.