ABU DHABI // Emirati featherweight Ahmad Al Darmaki has revenge on his mind when he steps into the ring at Abu Dhabi Warriors 4 on Tuesday night as he looks to make up for last year’s defeat to Ukraine’s Artiyom Gorodynets.
“The time for talking is over, its now time for action,” said Al Darmaki at Monday’s official weigh-in, ahead of the event at the Ipic Arena at Zayed Sports City. Pointing at Gorodynets, he said: “I will see you there. Thank you for accepting the fight. It will be a good fight. I trained very hard in the desert, in the heat, and I am ready to go.”
Tuesday’s main event on the 10-fight mixed martial arts card has last year’s headliner Paul “Headhunter” Buentello (34-16, 21 KOs) face off against fellow American heavyweight Eric Prindle (11-7, 6 KOs) for the Abu Dhabi Warriors Heavyweight title.
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Buentello knocked out France’s Rameau Sokoudjou at Abu Dhabi Warriors 3.
“I had a great performance last year in Abu Dhabi, I have been training very hard training in camp. I was offered many other fights, but I chose to come over here, because of the support I received from everyone and the fans. I will give a great fight and great win to the fans again. Thank you for having me and I will come back again,” said Buentello.
The night features 20 fighters from thirteen countries including the US, Russia, France, Algeria, Brazil and Armenia competing in a series of bouts in different weight classes.
After putting on events in Bangkok, Thailand and Khabarovsk, Russia last year, organisers have plans to expand in 2016.
“Abu Dhabi Warriors have planned six events for the 2016 calendar year; two Abu Dhabi Warriors events in Abu Dhabi [May and November] and four ‘Road To Abu Dhabi’ series events in Europe [August], Brazil [September], Malaysia [October] and Bangkok [November]” said Lubomir Guedjev, the managing director
“We are working around the clock to make Abu Dhabi Warriors a sustainable and commercial product.”
FIGHT CARD
• Jason Santana (USA, 2-0) vs Pavel Gordeev (Russia, 3-0)
• Diego Gonzalez (Sweden, 18-11) vs Carlos Moyano (Colombia, 5-3)
• Yoichiro Sato (Japan, 17-6) vs Tahar Hadbi (Algeria, 11-6)
• Ahmad Al Darmaki (UAE, 0-3) vs Artiyom Gorodynets (Ukraine, 2-3)
• Alexey Polpudnikov (Russia, 21-4) vs Antonio Pereira (Brazil, 18-5)
• Ion Pascu (Romania, 14-5) vs Andreas Michaildis (Greece, 6-2)
• Anthony Ruiz (USA, 33-21) vs Joachim Christensen (Denmark, 12-3)
• Akop Stepanyan (Armenia, 22-8) vs Will Chope (USA, 31-9)
• Alexander Sarnavskiy (Russia, 33-4) vs Jorge Patino (USA, 38-17–2)
• Main event: Paul Buentello (USA, 34-16) vs Eric Prindle (USA, 11-7)
EVENT INFO
• What – Abu Dhabi Warriors 4
• When – Tuesday, 7pm
• Where – Ipic Arena, Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi
• Tickets – Entrance is free
• TV Broadcast – Abu Dhabi Sports TV, Dubai Sports TV and Physique TV
• Live Stream – www.abudhabi-warriors.com
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