Abu Dhabi Warriors 4 began with a wonderfully executed production of electronic screens and colorful lighting. The Abu Dhabi crowd at Ipic Arena, steadily increasing, as the announcer introduced the fighters one by one to the crowd.
Emirati featherweight Ahmad Al Darmaki, received the loudest cheer from his loyal Abu Dhabi fans. But it was another night to forget for the Emirati, who lost for the second time against the Ukrainian Artiyom Gorodynets via TKO in the first round.
Ahmad Al Darmaki made his walk to the ring, to a traditional Emirati song, with the UAE flag wrapped around his shoulders. The crowd was on its feet.
Al Darmaki began the first round by lunging into Artiyom Gorodynets with a big right hand, but Gorodynets managed to skip the attack and lift Al Darmaki and smack him on his back on the ring floor.
Gorodynets started pounding him with punches, an electric start to the fight everyone was waiting for. Al Darmaki did well to get back on top and throw some heavy punches, but it didn’t seem to do much damage.
Al Darmaki was exhausted in the early exchanges, which allowed Gorodynets to get on top and pound him with hammer punches.
As the round wore on Gorodynets took total control and kept on pounding Al Darmaki on the head, which led to the referee to step in and stop the fight. A technical knock out.
The Abu Dhabi crowd, which had a lot of hope on UAE’s only MMA fighter, but were left disappointed, as the whole arena turned quiet to witness Al Darmaki’s fourth professional defeat in as many fights.
The first fight on the card was between Jason Santana of USA vs Pavel Gordeev of Russia. Pavel won by a unanimous decision after going the distance is a one sided fight.
Next, Diego Gonzalez of Sweden vs Carlos Moyano of Colombia, Carlos seemed like he was ahead in the cards, but lost by an arm bar submission. Algeria’s Tahar Hadbi defeated Japan’s Yoichiro Sato by a one-punch knock out in the first round. Perhaps the night’s second most spectacular finish.
Next on the card was between the Russian Alexey Polpudnikov and Antonio Pereira, Alexey won by TKO in the first round. Romania’s Ion Pascu defeated Andreas Michaildis by a unanimous decision. Denmark’s Joachim Christensen defeated the American Anthony Ruiz via a first round arm bar submission.
As the fights progressed, the Ipic Arena was almost packed, with over 1500 fans, with a very loud and active crowd. The eighth fight on the card between Akop Stepanyan of Armenia and the American Will Chope was one of the most entertaining fights of the night. Akop landed several big shots on the head in the first two rounds, but Will Chope got back into the fight in the third round. Akop Stepanyan won by a split decision.
“Thank you to the fans and the organizers for inviting me, the fans were great and I am looking to be back again here, thank you everyone.” Said Akop Stepanyan
In the co-main event, Russia’s Alexander Sarnavskiy defeated Jorge Patino of USA by a unanimous decision. It was a toe-toe and a technically exciting fight. The fight began with both fighters trading punches and kicks; Sarnavskiy caught Patino with a knee towards the end of the first round. The second round was equally competitive. Patino was cut on the left eye in the third round, as the Russian kept landing the better shots.
“He is a great fighter, I tried to win the fight standing, he is good on the ground as all Brazilian fighters are. It was a great competitive fight. I love it here, I would like to thank the organization, the fans who came here to support me.” Said Alexander Sarnavskiy.
In the main event, 41-year-old American Paul Buentello knocked out the American Eric Prindle, 30, by a one punch knock out within a few seconds of the fight in round 1.
Buentello who said last year after his win at Abu Dhabi Warriors 3, that he had plenty of fight left in him despite his age, and he proved exactly that. Prindle hunted down Buentello and threw a few punches but he was caught cold with a huge right hand to the chin that ended the fight in a flash.
“I been a warrior for a long time, I love it, I had agreat time, I love Abu Dhabi, I want to come back. It’s the warriors’ spirit, I really want to come back and give good knockouts.” Said Paul Buentello
I had great training, with only three hard sparring; I worked a lot on my conditioning, my timing. I timed him here and that got me the knock out win” he said
“I feel so great, just line them up and I am ready to get down and hopefully fight for a title soon” he said
RESULTS
10. Paul Buentello (USA, 35-16) def. Eric Prindle (USA, 11-8)
9. Alexander Sarnavskiy (Russia, 33-4) def. Jorge Patino (USA, 38-17–2)
8. Akop Stepanyan (Armenia, 23-8) def. Will Chope (USA, 31-10)
7. Joachim Christensen (Denmark, 13-3) def. Anthony Ruiz (USA, 33-22)
6. Ion Pascu (Romania, 15-5) def. Andreas Michaildis (Greece, 6-3)
5. Alexey Polpudnikov (Russia, 22-4) def. Antonio Pereira (Brazil, 18-6)
4. Artiyom Gorodynets (Ukraine, 3-3) def. Ahmad Al Darmaki (UAE, 0-4)
3. Tahar Hadbi (Algeria, 12-6) def. Yoichiro Sato (Japan, 17-7)
2. Diego Gonzalez (Sweden, 19-11) def. Carlos Moyano (Colombia, 5-4)
1. Pavel Gordeev (Russia, 4-0) def. Jason Santana (USA, 2-1)
