Healthy competition is always good
DESPITE THAT EVENING JUNE 8 MOST male representatives gathered at the TV screens, due to the start the football championship "EURO 2012", about fifteen hundred spectators filled BANQUET HALL BEACH five-star hotel "HABTOOR GRAND BEACH RESORT & SPA" IN DUBAI TO CHOOSE FOR ATHLETES SPEAKING IN ANOTHER SPORT, MIXED MARTIAL ARTS (MMA). IT WAS A QUALIFICATION TOUR FOR THE SECOND DUBAI MIXED COMBAT (DFC) CHAMPIONSHIP, FOR SEMI-PROFESSIONALS. THE FIRST PROFESSIONAL HAPPENED IN MAY THIS YEAR.
Only a few years have passed since the first international mixed martial arts championship in Abu Dhabi, and its success.
the local public has already shown that in about five years, it is quite possible that local talents will appear in the UAE that can try their luck on world venues.
In the meantime, if we talk about local athletes, we can conclude that the generation of Arab fighters has not yet grown - MMA in the UAE is only beginning to develop, although quite quickly. The blessing in the Emirates can be found for this and means, and attract enthusiastic people.
The organizers of the Dubai Championship, Tam Khan and Ari Basti, just one of them - being professional athletes, they appreciated the pros and cons of past events and tried to take their to another level. The DFC-1 championship, unlike the competing competition, turned out to be more carefully planned, comfortable for the public and even somewhat “glamorous” - the “theater” here began with a “buffet”, before the entrance you could buy sports paraphernalia, comfortable halls were arranged in the hall VIP seats at the tables. On large screens, before the release of each fighter, the video representing him was launched, after which there was a live broadcast of the battle. The biggest advantage of conducting these fights was their clear gradation, which was announced by the host - amateur, semi-professional and professional - everything is clear to the viewer of any level of training.
Of the minuses - the seats in the hall are located on the same level, so from the far rows in standard places it was quite difficult to discern what is happening in the cage. But this did not stop the audience after the program to get to know the fighters closer, take pictures with the winners in the lobby and continue the evening in the hotel’s night club ...
Now, in fact, about the battles. While Dubai promoters Tam Khan and Ari Basti proved their superiority in healthy competition with the organizer of the MMA Championships in Abu Dhabi, fighters demonstrated their qualities in the ring.
Most of our compatriots living in the Emirates, of course, first of all went to “root” for Malik Omarov from Dagestan, who has been living in Dubai for many years and has been training at the Contender martial arts club. In a difficult fight with the Englishman Stuart Davies (Stuart Davies), behind which 27 professional fights with 8 victories, Malik came out victorious.
The first two rounds were tense, with relatively equal opportunities, but the third round showed who was stronger - Sewart got a knee injury, and Malik easily sent him to the half of the ring, from which he could no longer get up without the help of a coach. The unequivocal recognition of judges and, of course, fans is technical knockout (TKO).
Other prominent names that attracted the people were the Cypriot “crazy bear” Stav Economou and former UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez, in the fight of which the “bear” won the third round by unanimous decision.
The fights of the semi-professionals were also interesting, including “our” Gudrat Mammadov, who emerged victorious from the fight with Iranian Amir Taghinejad in the second round, TKO.
Most of the participants in the tournament were already familiar to us from past ADFC fights, including the host, which, frankly, I would like to replace - if it were not for the press releases and video clips before the release of the fighters, with its Australian pronunciation it is quite difficult to understand who is playing in the ring. This time the only emirate MMA athlete Ali Ahly was not famous, but there was still hope that he would take part in future DFC fights, since his performances always attract a large number of local spectators.
We had to say goodbye and enjoy watching the development of MMA in the United Arab Emirates and the competition among the organizers, thanks to which we are sure that the next Championship will be even more interesting and spectacular, with the participation of world-famous professionals with famous names.
