Jesse Arnett was crowned the new UAE Warriors featherweight champion on Saturday after a second round stoppage by the cage-side doctor following a cut above Ali Al Qaisi’s left eye.
Chaos ensued as a visibly upset Al Qaisi screamed at the referee and went after Arnett, who had to jump out of the cage before calmness was restored at the Etihad Arena.
“I love Abu Dhabi and I love to compete, and I respect Ali and everyone in this region,” Arnett said. “Ali deserves an immediate re-match. This fight was razor-close and I landed an elbow from the top and split him wide open. I’m not the referee but I’m here to compete and I was there for all five rounds.
“Everybody that knows me back home knows I haven’t had a lot of wrestling practice and I haven’t had a lot of jiu-jitsu practice since I left Sanford MMA. I will wrestle that boy next time and do the exact same thing. I found the game-plan to beat Ali.”
After an evenly-matched opening round, Al Qaisi attempted a high kick and fell on his back, allowing Arnett to get on top of his opponent to open what appeared to be a deep cut.
Al Qaisi looked agitated with the decision to stop the contest. He argued with the referee first and then pursued Arnett when he appeared to intervene on the verdict.
The result took Arnett’s win-loss record to 20-8 and his UAE Warriors record to 3-1.
Taleb extends unbeaten run
Ali Taleb took his unbeaten record to seven with a stunning right hook to floor defending champion Vinicius de Oliveira in the UAE Warriors bantamweight title contest.
De Oliveira produced an impressive second round after a close opening five minutes, but walked into Taleb’s crunching right that landed on his right jaw in the third round.
“I was confident coming into this title contest,” Taleb said after ending the Brazilian’s unbeaten run of six career fights.
“It’s nice to have a title next to my name. It certainly improves my status as an MMA fighter in the world circuit particularly when other promotions have approached me. Hopefully exciting times are ahead.”
Results
Featherweight title fight: Jesse Arnett (CAN) beat Ali Al Qaisi (JOR) via TKO (Doctor Stoppage), Round 2
Bantamweight title fight: Ali Taleb (IRQ) beat Vinicius de Oliveira (BRA) via KO, Round 3
Flyweight: Dias Erengaipov (KAZ) beat Abdulla Aliev (RUS) via Split Decision
Lightweight: Michael Dufort (CAN) beat Wilson Varela (FRA) via Unanimous Decision
Bantamweight: Jonny Touma (SWE) beat Rey Nacionales (PHI) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in Round 1
Middleweight: Juscelino Ferreira (BRA) beat KB Bhullar (CAN) via Unanimous Decision
Bantamweight: Murad Magomedov (RUS) beat Alimardan Abdykaarov (KYG) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in Round 2
Catchweight 178lbs: Brian Hooi (NED) beat Wisem Hammami (ITA) via KO in Round 2
Featherweight: Samuel Bark (SWE) beat Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) via Split Decision
Catchweight 143lbs: Gabriel Braga (BRA) Faeez Jacobs (RSA) via Unanimous Decision
Catchweight 143lbs: Jacqueline Cavalcanti (POR) beat Yulia Kutsenko (RUS) via TKO (Strikes) in Round 1
Heavyweight: Sofiane Boukichou (TUN) Luc Ngeleka (COG) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in Round 1
Bantamweight: Ruel Panales (PHI) beat Magomed Gadzhimuradov (RUS) via TKO (Doctor Stoppage) in Round 2
