ABU DHABI: In a night featuring 14 high-level jiu jitsu and mixed martial arts bouts, Urijah Faber of the United States and Rayron Gracie of Brazil captured the fifth edition of the Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship (ADXC) on Friday at the Mubadala Arena, with Faber taking home the trophy without a kimono and Gracie going home with a kimono.
Faber showed his strength after successfully defeating Brazil's Bibiano Fernandes almost 20 years after their first encounter in MMA.
Faber used his wrestling experience to thwart Fernandes' attacks, where he was able to put better pressure on his opponent's guard. The Brazilian had some good moments when he was able to take down his opponent and land several sweeps, but Faber's skills were the overriding factor.
In the end, the American was able to defeat his opponent in the ADXC cage via unanimous decision. After the fight, Faber emphasized the respect he had for his opponent and praised the competition in Abu Dhabi.
“I love Fernandes. This guy has changed the lives of so many athletes throughout his career and he’s a tough guy to beat,” Faber said. “I feel good about fighting in the cage again. If you’re looking for something to change your life, look into martial arts. Abu Dhabi is doing the right thing by investing in something like jiu jitsu.”
In this encounter, Gracie gave no chance to rookie Marcos Carrossino and captured his second consecutive ADXC win with another submission.
Gracie started the fight off by defending his opponent's attacks well. After Carrozzino tried to tag down, Gracie used a strange choke hold that forced his opponent to give up. Gracie later praised his uncle, renowned mixed martial artist Renzo Gracie, for being by his side in the fight.
“I knew everything was going to be okay with my uncle around,” Gracie said. “I got the first neck lock, but Carrozzino got out of it really well. The guillotine he used on me was really tight, but I knew he was going to go all out, so I was able to defend myself and recover. Five minutes into the fight, my uncle told me to get a neck lock in the corner about 40 seconds before the end of the round.”
In the second hand-to-hand fight, American Chad Mendes defeated Brazilian Diego Brandao by unanimous decision. Mendes led the fight throughout, controlling his opponent's head in the standing position, using good tackling and defending well.
Another judo bout was a highly technical and balanced affair, with Portugal’s Pedro Ramalho narrowly defeating Sweden’s Max Lindblad by split decision to claim the title. The two fighters had a similar fighting style, trading blows and strikes while defending dangerous positions. Ramalho excelled with his excellent sweeps and was particularly dangerous with his feet. Lindblad excelled with his footlocks, which gave him the upper hand. However, Ramalho’s consistency eventually paid off.
In addition to the four main fights, there were 10 other fights that made ADXC 5 exciting. In the opening fight, Al-Hashmi Balqis from the United Arab Emirates successfully defeated Maria Odintsova from Russia. Al-Hashmi used her full guard to control her opponent throughout the fight, using promising strikes and using positional control to pressure her opponent throughout the fight. Al-Hashmi won via unanimous decision.
Another Emirati fighter also picked up a win on home soil. Omar Al-Suwaidi defeated Samuel Marquez via unanimous decision in a fight where Al-Suwaidi dominated the fight by maintaining a high tempo.
Another impressive display of power and technique from Iranian fighter Pouya Rahmani in the ADXC cage, where he took down Hamdy Abdelwahab with a single-leg takedown and a back grab, then extended his arms toward the crowd before getting under Abdelwahab’s neck and finishing with a choke hold.
Tunisian fighter Amin Bouthina was defeated by Brazil's Davy Vetorasi. Vetorasi hit a dangerous flying triangle from the start before transitioning to an armbar, which Bouthina blocked. Vetorasi then faked a shoulder lock. When the Tunisian spun to escape, Vetorasi successfully locked in the winning armbar.
Kazakhstan’s 19-year-old Selkhan Bolatbek quickly defeated Netherlands’ Emad Ahmedin and China’s Xiaosong Shi before falling to American Abe “The Killer” Alzakir in a heated match where Alzakir used the cage to his advantage. Shi had some good moments, including a particularly effective guillotine attempt in the second round, but Alzakir kept the pressure on and earned a unanimous decision victory.
