(Photo by: Akl Yazbeck/SportsCode)
Desert Force 14 was a landmark card for many reasons. Not only was it the first professional MMA contest to ever take place in the Kingdom, but 9 out of 10 fights ended within 3 rounds and 6 of these ended by way of submission! You read that right. 6 submissions, 3 TKO’s and 1 very, very, very entertaining draw.
The first submission ever in KSA belongs to Meshaal al Khuzeem who came back from a very tough first round where he was almost knocked out to choke out Ammar Tchalabi by way of Rear Naked Choke. The victory didn’t look likely after the first round let alone the submission making the result all the more remarkable!
DF’s first ever heel hook submission could also be found on the card… And guess what? It was pulled off by a Kyokushinkai based fighter! Amin Nacheb looked worse for wear when he ended up with the huge Jawad Lhaymar on top of him in full mount but managed to scramble and secure the submission.
If we thought the undercard delivered submissions galore, the main card featured 4 submissions form 5 fights! Even more remarkable 3 of them were by way of triangle choke! Harahshe was the odd one out when he submitted Yaser Zaid by way of RNC! Karaki, Bardawil and Abdulahad resorted to Triangles with Bardawil’s triangle particularly notable since he also managed to lock in a pretty tight kimura simultaneously whilst in mid air! Julaidan was the only person who opted to go for the TKO when he knocked down Selwady with a huge left hook and followed that up with ground and pound that had Selwady out before waking him up three strikes later.
