Episode 5 opened with the announcement that ten fighters have been qualified in the previous elimination fights. Six others were yet to join along with each of Yasser Zaid, Andrew Tarraf, Younes Ouakili, Mohamad Alazani, Mohamad Alanzi, Mehdi Zeyoush, Serge Saad, Phillipe Masoud, Georges Bardawil, and Mohamad Mashali.
Mohammad Al Sebai Vs Ghaleb Harasheh
This fight had Al Harasheh written all over it! His takedowns were enough to earn him the decision win against a helpless Al Seibai who had little chance to counter. Round 1 ends with Al Sebai earning a few points in the stand up department. In the second round, Ghaleb manages to take down Al Sebai successfully. Al Sebai lands some fairly effective elbows, yet that was not enough to earn him the round. As Al Harasheh finds his way to the mount, he gets sweeped giving his back to Al Sebai. With Al Sebai failing to capitalize and secure the choke, Al Harahsheh emerges as the winner.
Mohamed Ali Vs Abdel Qader Sawwan
It was actually hard to recap this one exhaustively, as both fighters were going at it for three full rounds. Ali and Sawwan were engaged in the most technical brawl so far and had all the coaches and viewers on their feet. The Algerian had a slight advantage using more kicks and his wrestling to Takedown Ali and snatch the seat to Al Academiya. Definitely a loss not to see Mohamed Ali enter the academy, but who knows what Mirza has in mind … go on keep reading!
Ramadan Numan Vs Hussein Salem
This fight holds some special stories! Besides Salem’s dominance, as ironic as it may sound, both fighters had previously faced the coaches and lost. Ramadan faced Julaidan when the former was making his 66Kg debut, and Salem faced Selwady when Julaidan had to pull out from the Desert Force Bahrain main event due to knee injury. This fight was all about Salem, landing his low kicks and showboating with his spinning elbows. Ramdan was out of the fight from the opening minutes making the judges’ decision an easy task. The Muay Thai expert joins the crew!
Abdallah Muhammad Ali Vs Maher Salloum
Fastest fight in Al academiya! Almost took Abdallah Ali 30 seconds to end the fight with a single punch! The more aggressive Salloum was tagged in the opening 30 seconds of the fight leaving him rolling on the canvas and tapping out. Not sure what that was about, seems like Ali’s left hook dislocated Salloums jaw. Both fighters seemed frustrated and Mohamed wanted more cage-time as his gestures indicated.
Out of 32 contestants on the show, 28 only proceeded, thus leaving only 14 qualified winners. In order to make up, Mohammad Sebai at 66Kg Mohammad Ali at 61Kg were granted another chance. Yet as odd as it may seem, Mohammad AlAnizi from Kuwait and UAE’s Abdallah Mohamad Ali pulled out by the end of Episode 5 for unknown reasons. Again with only 14 contestants left, a surprise awaiting two of the losers was announced by Mohammad Mirza. Handpicked by Mohammad Mirza and the two coaches, Mohammad Ali from Egypt and Mohammad Al Sebai from KSA are admitted back in!
The green team selection, lead by Aziz Julaidan:
- Abdulqader Sawwan (Algeria) 61Kg
- Mohammad Azzani (Yemen) 61Kg
- Phillipe Masoud (Lebanon) 61Kg
- Younis Ouakili (Morocco) 61Kg
- Hussein Salem (Iraq) 66Kg
- Mohamad Sebai (KSA) 66Kg
- Mehdi Zeyoush (Algeria) 66Kg
- Osama Ashraf (Egypt) 66Kg
The red team selection, lead by Abdulkareem Al Selwady:
- Georges Bardawil (Lebanon) 61Kg
- Mohamad Mashaly (Egypt) 61Kg
- Mohamad Ali (Egypt) 61Kg
- Hussein Ayyad (Bahrain) 61Kg
- Andrew Tarraf (Lebanon) 66Kg
- Serge Saad (Lebanon) 66Kg
- Yasser Zaid (Iraq) 66Kg
- Ghaleb Harasha (Jordan) 66Kg
