Uloomi Karim won the Matrix Fight Night bantamweight belt in Dubai on Friday. The Pakistani stopped Dhruv Chaudhary in the opening round at the Palazzo Versace.
In the early exchanges Chaudhary looked to land punching combos and scored with a solid low kick as he tried to take advantage of his superior height and reach. Karim was happy to stay in the pocket and absorb his opponent’s strikes without offering much by way of counters.
But the strategy for the Pakistani soon became clear as he shot for a takedown and they clinched against the cage. Chaudhary was able to stall him but only for so long as Karim picked him up and carried him across the cage before slamming him to the ground.
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Nasty surprise
The referee stood the fighters up almost instantly and Karim shot for a second takedown which was stuffed by the Indian. If Chaudhary thought that all he had to worry about was preventing the Pakistani from taking him down he was in for a nasty surprise.
Karim fired a right hand straight down the pipe and it dropped the Indian instantly. He followed up with some hard shots as his opponent lay flat on his back but the fight was clearly over and the referee dived in to save Chaudhary from further punishment.
It was a big win for Karim who improves to 9-6 and becomes the inaugural Matrix Fight Night bantamweight champion. His opponent drops to 15-9.
https://twitter.com/mfn_mma/status/1594174855116886016?s=20&t=Xr2DJ3shduCv5wNI_auHXg
Best of the rest
Earlier in the evening Puja Tomar became the inaugural strawweight champion with a second round knockout win against fellow ONE Championship veteran Bi Nguyen. The Indian fighter avenged her 2019 loss to the Vietnamese-American to extend her winning streak to three.
The last time the pair met they competed in Muay Thai with Nguyen walking away with a debatable split decision win. This time it was Tomar who came out on top and she improves to 7-4 while Nguyen drops to 6-9.
Results: Matrix Fight Night 10
Uloomi Karim def. Dhruv Chaudhary via first round KO
Puja Tomar def. Bi Nguyen via Second Round TKO
Angad Bisht def. Mohamed Gamal via Submission
Sanjeet Budhwar def. Atabek Abdimitalipov via unanimous decision
Punyajit Likharu def. Djordje Stojanovic via Third Round TKO
Dinesh Naorem Singh def. Arsenba Ozukum via Third Round TKO
Digamber Singh Rawat def. Akib Ali via Split Decision
Avizo Lanamai def. Dushyant Singh via First Round Submission (Rear naked choke)
Clinton D Cruz def. Musa Raish via First Round Submission (D’Arce)
Shyamanand def. Richard Mearns via First Round Knockout
Aziz Satybaloyev def. Fabricio Oliveira via Unanimous Decision
Priya Sharma def. Jojo Rajkumari via Unanimous Decision
