Local favourite Mohammad Yahya earned a second round stoppage win over Yazid Chouchane in the main event of UAE Warriors 21. The victory earned him the newly minted Arabia lightweight title.
After a frantic first round there was very little action to speak of in the second stanza. But Yahya switched stance which seemed to confuse his opponent and then landed a straight right as he stepped back into orthodox from southpaw.
Chouchane did not see it coming and neither would anyone watching the fight as Yahya had hardly threatened up to that point. Both men traded haymakers in the opening round but none of them found the target.
Chouchane shot for the first takedown of the fight but it was stuffed. Both lightweights were looking to land bit overhand rights but neither was doing enough to set the shot up.
Big finish
The action slowed in the second round as both had found their range and were easily evading each other’s strike attempts. Chouchane did succeed in landing a right hand before the action was paused due to an accidental low blow by Yahya.
Very little was happening when Yahya decided to switch stance. It was enough to break Chouchane’s rhythm though and as he stepped back into orthodox stance he was able to land a straight right which effectively finished the fight.
Chouchane never recovered and Yahya attacked with ground and pound with the referee stepping in to halt the action with 12 seconds remaining in the round. He improves to 10-3 and earns a title for his troubles while his opponent drops to 7-3.
Best of the rest
In the co-main event the scorecards were all over the place. Badreddine Diani (4-1) ultimately beat Abdullah Boushehri (8-3) by split decision but it is fair to say the judges saw the fight very differently.
Two of them had it 48-47, one in favour of each fighter, which suggested the contest was very close. The other gave every round to Diani scoring it 50-45 for the Moroccan who becomes the promotion’s first ever Arabia welterweight champion.
UAE Warriors 21, Abu Dhabi, September 3rd
Mohammad Yahya def. Yazid Chouchane via TKO (punches) at 4:48 of round 2 (Wins Inaugural UAE Warriors Arabia Lightweight Title)
Badreddine Diani def. Abdullah Boushehri via Decision (Split) (Wins Inaugural UAE Warriors Arabia Welterweight Title)
Wagner Pereira def. Charbel Diab via TKO (Ground & pound) at 0:44 of round 1
Wisem Hammami def. Omar Hussein via Decision (Unanimous)
Rashed Dawood def. Laith Kayyali via Decision (Split)
Mohammad Alaqraa def. Abdulrahman Thaer Taha via Submission (Rear-naked choke) at 1:41 of round 1
Hadi Omar Al Hussaini def Emad Arafa via Submission (Arm triangle) at 3:00 of round 2
Eman Almudhaf def Hassna Gaber via Submission (Rear-naked choke) at 2:31 of round 1
Asaël Adjoudj def. Ozodbek Azimov via Submission (Standing guillotine) at 3:40 of round 3
Abdulla Aldabal def. Mohamed Elleboudy via Submission (Triangle choke) at 2:56 of round 1
Adel Ibrahim def. Mohammad Mutie via unanimous decision
