Ayeni Olusegun
Riyadh
Kuwaiti fighter Mohammad Alaqraa lived up to the hype as he overpowered Youces Ouabbas in the third round with a brilliant TKO to book a Welterweight semi-finals spot in the Professional Fighters League Middle East and North Africa (PFL MENA) event held at the Green Halls in Riyadh on Friday.
"I told you, I’m one of the best in the Middle East, and I’m not going to get weaker; I’m just going to get stronger. You’re going to see in my next fight I’m going to sharpen my weapons as well,” Alaqraa told Qatar Tribune after the fight.
With his love for grappling evident, Alaqraa swiftly took his opponent down. He nearly knocked out Ouabbas with a spinning forearm shot to the head, following it up with a series of strikes to the face until the referee intervened.
"It’s the details,” Alaqraa said about what he learned from the fight. "In this level of the competition, the details make a difference. My next opponent is well-rounded and good at grappling and striking. I have to ensure I am ready in both areas, but he also has to work on his grappling because either way, I’m going to take him down.”
Algeria’s Souhil Tahiri also shed off the underdog tag as he took down veteran fighter Ahmed Amiri in a unanimous decision win to book his spot in the Lightweight semis. The supposed underdog saw his stock rise after the remarkable victory.
Speaking to Qatar Tribune, Tahiri said, "It felt amazing. I have always craved and looked for this kind of championship-level fight where my skills are tested. Ahmed Amir was a tough opponent. He took powerful shots, and I was impressed by his skills and will to fight.”
Home favourites Saudi Arabia’s Mostafa Nada was in impeccable with a first-round knockout of Abdel Rahmane Driai, while Saudi Arabia’s Hattan Alsaif struck her way to a second straight TKO win, defeating Eman Baraka in the second round.
A flyweight showcase fight (non-season) between UAE’s Hadir Omar Al Hussaini and Egypt’s Ziad Ayman Mokhtar set the tone for a thrilling evening as the Egyptian bounced back from being dominated earlier on to dispose of the Emirati fighter with a brilliant rear-naked choke (RNC) in the final round.
Omar El Dafrawy put on a dominant performance against Anthony Zeidan, winning by unanimous decision and advancing to the Welterweight semi-finals.
Lebanon’s Georges Eid took Bahrain’s Abbas Khan all the way to pick up an impressive unanimous decision win. Eid overcame Khan’s ground game with successful strikes to overpower his opponent, whom he left bloodies in the cage.
Mohsen Mohammadseifi put his striking power on full display as he stopped Josh Togo by TKO in the first round to advance to the Lightweight semifinals. Badreddine Diani defeated Amir Fazli by unanimous decision to claim his spot in the semi-finals.
Abdullah Saleem made light work of Omar Reguigui to book a Lightweight semis berth, forcing his opponent to submit in under a minute with the triangle choke.
Jordan’s Jarrah Al Selawe quickly dispatched Algeria’s Rayan Atmani, chocking him out in the first round with a masterful rear naked choke in the Welterweight regular season bout.
The inaugural PFL MENA season will continue on September 20, with the playoffs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It will also kick off the Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions.