UAE Warriors 13 took place on Friday night at The Rotunda at Caesars Palace in Abu Dhabi. It was a night full of first-round knockouts topped off with Chi Lewis-Parry successfully defending the heavyweight title with a first-round stoppage over Fabio Maldonado.
Lewis-Parry returned after a 14 month layoff and did not show any kind of ring rust. He took the centre of the cage and controlled every aspect of the fight from start to finish.
After a hard leg kick landed and shifted Maldonado, a laser right hand followed. Stepping back and looking somewhat rocked, the Brazilian put his back to the fence and covered up.
Fast finish
Lewis-Parry tasted blood and exploded with multiple downward elbows to his adversary’s head. Maldonado collapsed and the referee instantly stopped the fight.
The only other fighter to be able to take out Maldonado this fast was the reigning UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. Lewis-Parry (9-0-2-2) extends his unbeaten streak to nine while adding up the biggest name to his resume.
Maldonado (26-14), on the other hand, has lost four of his last six MMA fights. At 40 years old, it is difficult to say what his next move is.
Top prospect
Former Heat lightweight champion Kyung Pyo Kim was originally scheduled to face PFL veteran Islam Mamedov in the co-main event but unfortunately, he was pulled hours before the start of the show and Shamil Aminov stepped in.
The South Korean took little time to get comfortable and dipped low for a takedown. After initially defended well, Aminov was dumped on his back with a body lock slam. Kim immediately slid into the mount and stepped over to secured a mounted triangle.
He then transitioned to his back, made a couple of technical adjustments, and got the tap after some elbows to the top of the head.
Kim obtains his fourth straight first round finish and improves to 10-2. Aminov drops to 0-1.
Devastating knockout
For the rest of the night, knockouts were the theme and a few of them were of devastating nature.
Hashem Arkhagha (6-0) showed overwhelming power by faceplanting Yuri Fraga (13-12-1) with a right hand in the first round along the fence. The Jordanian continues his rampage through the Middle East and stays undefeated.
After weathering the storm against Abdulla Al Bousheiri (7-2), Dean Barry (3-1) only needed one punch, the left hand, to put him away at the end of the first round. The Irishman has won all his fights via knockout and represents SBG, the home of Conor McGregor.
Dominant victories
The flyweight women were also on display with France’s Manon Fiorot and Australian Casey O’Neill picking up dominant second-round victories on the ground and subsequently establishing themselves as legit threats in the division.
Fiorot (4-1) was able to crush Naomi Tataraglu (2-3) from the mount with damaging punches and elbows. Meanwhile, Tiger Muay Thai product O’Neill (5-0) finished Christina Stelliou (6-4) with devastating strikes from back mount.
The commentators mentioned that the promotion was thoroughly impressed by Foirot and is looking to have her compete for the inaugural women’s flyweight title in the near future.
Sasha Palatnikov (5-2) returned off an 11-month layoff due to knee surgery and blasted his way through Brazilian Paulo Teodoro (0-3) in less than 90 seconds. Topnoi TigerMuayThai (7-3) beat Issac Pimentel (17-10) by majority technical decision with the bout going to the scorecards midway through the third round due to multiple low blows by the Brazilian.
UAE Warriors 13, September 25th, Abu Dhabi
Chi Lewis-Parry (c) vs. Fábio Maldonado (For Heavyweight Title)
Kyung Pyo Kim def. Shamil Aminov via Submission (Triangle Choke) at of Round 1
Xavier Alaoui def. Taksim Zabitov via Decision (Unanimous) at 5:00 of Round 3
Tarek Suleiman def. Piotr Walawski via TKO (Punches) at 3:00 of Round 2
Chris Barnett def. Ahmed Tijani Shehu via TKO (Strikes) at 0:58 of Round 1
Dean Barry def. Abdulla Al Bousheiri via Knockout (Punch) at 4:30 of Round 1
Manon Fiorot def. Naomi Tataroglu via TKO (Punches) at 3:00 of Round 2
Sasha Palatnikov def. Paulo Henrique Teodoro via TKO (Punches) at 1:43 of Round 1
Imamshafi Aliev def. Elijas Paknys via Decision (Unanimous) at 5:00 of Round 3
Hashem Arkhagha def. Yuri Fraga via Knockout (Punch) at 2:27 of Round 1
Shamil Magomedov def. Feraidoon Alik Zai via Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) at 3:06 in Round 2
Casey O’Neill def. Christina Stelliou via TKO (Strikes) at 2:12 of Round 2
Agshin Babaev vs. Gi Bum Moon, No Contest (Low Blow), 1R
TopNoi TigerMuayThai def. Isaac Pimentel via Technical Decision (Majority), 2R
