(Photo by: Akl Yazbeck/SportsCode)
Jeddah – This fight was supposed to be a light heavyweight title fight between Mhammad Karaki and Sami Antar who, after all the hype, was unable to show up due to a back injury.
A last minute courageous replacement, Nour El Dine from Platinum Gym stepped in to save the fight and face the champion in a non-title fight on Monday at Arena, Jeddah.
As the fight started, Karaki rushed in for a take down and slammed the debutant hard on the canvas. It wasn’t long until the champ trapped Nour El dine in a triangle lock, while the latter delivered some pounding in an attempt to escape. The Brazilian Jiu-jitsu purple belt was not threatened by the oncoming blows and found his way to a tighter Triangle, transitioning it into an arm bar and ending the fight in the first round.
Team Shogun’s Mhammad Karaki announced after the fight that he will vacate the Light heavyweight title as this will be his last fight in this division. He will now be dropping to middleweight and ride the same path to get the title again.
Mhammad Karaki’s 5 win streak leaves him on top of the Desert Force list with the most consecutive wins under this promotion.