Concluded yesterday, the first open Middle East Grappling Championship for the two categories of advanced and junior, which took place in the hall of the Hussein Youth City Arena with the participation of more than 80 players in 9 different categories!
Even though the event was held in Jordan, the MMA hub in the middle east, there was little presence for MMA fighters in this tournament. Yet two of the familiar faces from Team Narmouq made it to podium. Nawras Abzakh who fights under the Cage Warriors amateur banner along with teammate Bassel Narmouq from “Desert Force ” Al Academiya show made an appearance and managed to walk up the podium. Nawras earned the gold in the under 65 advanced division after 2 wins via heel hook and guillotine, Bassel also went home with the silver. An overall 8 medals out of 25 for Team Narmouq.
Tymour Narmouq (Head Coach):
I was very impressed with Nawras’s performance that day. Until now , I haven’t seen any fighter in his weight category that could be of any danger to him. Be it in MMA or in graplling.
It is always good to see those MMA fighters taking part of such competitions. The grappling competition environment brings both unfamiliar opponents – always good for exercising mental flexibility and implementing game plans – and provides a focused, more intense environment for grappling than the home gym, which prevents stagnation and rewards technical execution against all manner of opponents.
UFC starts from all categories make it a duty to take part of atleast one grappling tournament every once in a while. So where are our arab fighters when it comes to such high level local grappling tournies!?
