Lubomir Guedjev believes Mixed Martial Arts has “found a home” for itself in the UAE after the third edition of the Abu Dhabi Warriors was dubbed a roaring success in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.
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The crowds were out in force at the IPIC Arena and they were whipped into a frenzy during 10 enthralling fights that showed MMA has a popular following in the Emirates.
Having hosted their first tournament in 2012, Abu Dhabi Warriors are already looking forward to their next event in the UAE capital in December and Warriors’ managing director Guedjev, a former MMA fighter himself, can’t wait to come back.
“The first one in 2012 had very good feedback, then we had to stay out of the ring for two years, so when we had the second event in March this year it was really like the first event,” said the Bulgarian.
“We had to plan it in a short period of time and this event is thanks to the exposure we had in March. There’s been an improvement. It was way better tonight.
Warriors are coming back in December this year. http://t.co/GPaLUoR98h
— Abu Dhabi Warriors (@ADWarriors) October 3, 2015
“For the future of MMA in Abu Dhabi, this is only the beginning. Our next event is in December and I think MMA has definitely found a home in the UAE. It can become a landmark for MMA.”
There were some excellent matches for the crowd to soak up, particularly the heavyweight slugfest between Paul Buentello and Rameau Sokoudjou, while the lightweight clash between Alexander Sarnavskiy beat Jesse Ronson was a back and forth bloodbath, and the crowd’s reactions convinced Guedjev the future of MMA in the Emirates is bright.
“For me it’s very important that the people enjoy it and my boss enjoys it so I know we can proceed but in my opinion the show was great,” said the 37-year-old.
“We witnessed a great display of various skills, all different aspects of MMA. We saw amazing submissions, good knockouts, good standup skills, reversing positions with one fighter dominating then the other one and some interesting fights. The audience showed they were interested because they were expressing their emotions throughout the fights.”
