This season of Al Batal has already surpassed the previous season in terms of fight quality and caliber.
In episode 5 of this season, Abdelali Harriri was matched up against Tariq Ismail, here’s the break down of the fight.
Both of these fighters approach each other looking super intense and refusing to touch gloves. The fight starts with Harriri trying to use his foot-work and Ismail insisting on controlling the center of the cage. Although there is no real action in the first couple of minutes of the bout, with minimal, not-so-effective blows being delivered from both sides, Harriri decided to shoot for a takedown, which isn’t successful and results in Harriri being pinned by Ismail. However, Ismail manages to pull off a good escape and stands back on his feet to trade.
Harriri and Ismail start engaging in some strikes, with a small advantage to Ismail, until Harriri lands a solid cross and drags Ismail to the cage, takes him down and lands a few punches. Ismail accidentally takes a few hits to the head while trying to scramble up back to the feet, which results in the referee standing both fighters up. They finish the round with good strikes, resulting in a very close first round.
In round 2, Ismail comes in strong with his boxing combinations which forces Harriri to shoot for a takedown and again drag Ismail to the cage. But, Ismail turns the table on Harriri by taking him down and controlling him instead. Ismail shows good control until Harriri finally manages to stand back up, with Ismail pressuring him against the fence.
The clinch battle between the two results in Harriri’s back being take and being victim to another takedown. Eventually, the referee stands both fighters back up with both fighters looking extremely tired, throwing punches and neglecting to defend themselves which looks like one of them is surely going to get knocked unconscious. Ismail drives Harriri to the cage with Harriri landing another illegal blow to the back of the head, resulting in a point deduction for Harriri, which results in his giving his all not to leave the decision to the judges in the last two minutes of the bout.
After two minutes of the fight being pushed and pulled, back and forth, the fight goes to a decision, resulting in a unanimous victory. A well-deserved and earned unanimous decision victory for Tariq Ismail.
