Desert Force 18 is just around the corner with a truly Lebanese fight card ready to make some noise in Ghazir’s “Sagesse” Stadium. The event is scheduled for Monday August 17, 2015, and the main card will air live on MBC action.
As soon as the promotion unveiled their plans to head to Beirut, the Lebanese fans seemed really eager to witness some of their best local fighters battle it out for the belt.
Yet, it seems that some unsettled negotiations have left Mark Tanios and Georges Bardawil with no title fights this time. If you examine the fight card closely, you also see that a top lightweight contender who was previously scheduled to fight for the title will also take part of a non-title fight!
Yes it’s Abdulahad Gari! Gari (3-0) who was previously scheduled to face the former champion Tareq Hamdi at Desert force 16 before injury had him pull out, will now be facing Hamdi who was dethroned by Mohamed Triki. Not sure how the matchmaker saw this, but that’s not the first or the last time you see a contender having to go the extra mile or a champion sidelined.
The number one lightweight contender Abdulahad Gari, known for being a man with few words, wasn’t really pleased when he received the news.
“I wasn’t happy when I knew that my upcoming fight was a non-title one, but a lot of the fans wanted to see this happen, they want to see me face Hamdi. Even Mohamed Mirza told me that this fight is one of his favorite on the card and Inshallah, I win and fight for the title next.”
Gari went on to mention that Triki and Hamdi have a similar fighting style, yet he thinks that Tarek is the better fighter.
“In my opinion, Tarek is the better fighter, he fought Triki and he was injured, and still, the fight was very close”
The first time this fight was scheduled, Hamdi mentioned to ArabsMMA that he will surprise Gari in many ways. Will he live up to his words and obstruct Gari, or will the Saudi overcome him to get to his much-wanted title fight?
ArabsMMA will provide full coverage of Desert Force 18 fights, check back in for more updates and live coverage!
