The United States of America had a great first day of competition at the 2017 IMMAF World Championships in Manama, Bahrain on Monday.
Team USA lead by Coaches Robert Hulett and David “Bubby” Mitchell took the victory in 7 of 9 fights on the day, with those 7 winners advancing onto the next day of competition starting Tuesday as viewed in the USA. The day started with 125lb US National Champion Sean Stebbins winning a 3 round unanimous decision against Ali Yoqoob of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Stebbins will now face Sanan Safarli from Azerbaijan . Next up was the youngest US National Champion in the history of the UMMAF National Tournament, 135 lb Chase Boutwell. Chase took on fellow 135 lb fighter Kierandip Sahota from Great Britain and won a 3 round unanimous decision while continuing his quest to become the youngest IMMAF World Champion to ever be crowned. He now faces Olzhas Moldagaliyev of Kazakstan on Tuesday. The third fight of the night resulted in Team USA’s first loss with 145lb IMMAF veteran Orlando Jimenez succumbing to a Guillotine Choke at the hands of Jonathan Ortega of Mexico. Team USA rebounded in the 145 lb division as the second US Team Member in that weight category, former US National Champion and 2016 IMMAF World Silver Medalist David Evans, fought a closely contested bout against Georges Sahyouni of Lebanon, winning by split decision and now faces a stiff contest against Boma Terrance of France in the next round. In the 155 lb weight division, US National Champion Quitin Thomas won a 3 round unanimous decision over Scott Pedersen of Great Britain. Thomas dominated the ground game during the fight and now faces off against Ethan Thomas from Austrailia. UMMAF National Champion and IMMAF veteran Benjamin Bennett of Alaska took his first step toward IMMAF Gold with a unanimous decision win over Abbas Khan from the Kingdom of Bahrain. This is Bennett’s second campaign for an IMMAF World Championship after losing in the 2016 semi-finals. On Tuesday he will look to continue his 2017 quest by overcoming the likes of Pat Hamer of New Zealand. Later in the evening, 185 lb UMMAF National Champion Darian Weeks scored a TKO victory over Meirambek Demeubayev from Kazakhstan when Weeks attempted a double leg blast take down which resulted in Demeubayev badly dislocating his big toe resulting in the stoppage. In a great display of sportsmanship and camaraderie , Weeks could be seen showing great concern and respect for his fallen opponent before accepting the victory. He now looks toward Jussi Pirttikangas of Finland on Tuesday. The night ended for Team USA when 205 lb US National Champion Toma Walton Tzilla suffered a stunning TKO loss against Lebanon’s Bachir Ricardo. Still to compete is Team USA member Fotini Kandris, as she looks to a semi-final match against Chamia Chabbi of Finland.
You can view all of the fights as they happen by downloading the Bahrain TV app onto your mobile device. The action starts at 7 a.m EST , 4 a.m PST, 5 a.m Phoenix on Tuesday morning, 11/14/17.
The Bahrain TV (Ministry of Information and Affairs) app is downloadable from iTunes and Google Play. You can also follow https://www.mynextmatch.com/tournament/44/details/fixture for live results, as well as our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/USAMMAKIF/?ref=hl.
Written by Ryan Brueggeman
