Khalid Bin Hamad Mixed Martial Arts fighter Frankie Edgar yesterday went down fighting to Brazil’s Jose Aldo Amanda in the maid draw of the Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC 200 in Las Vegas.
With this victory Aldo took a step closer to reclaiming the featherweight title he lost to Conor McGregor at UFC 192.
Having been stopped by McGregor in just 13 seconds last December, the fleet-footed Aldo put on a clinical display of counter-punching to outpoint the aggressive but ineffective Edgar to claim the interim title.
The defeat put an end to Edgar’s five-fight win streak that stretches back to his previous defeat to Aldo in February 2013, which also was a unanimous decision.
“Frankie’s a great guy and I respect him, but I have one goal and that’s to beat this guy (McGregor),” Aldo said.
McGregor is due to face Nate Diaz, who he lost to in March, in a welterweight bout on August 20 and after that he is expected to drop down two weight classes to meet Aldo.
First deputy chairman of Supreme Council for Youth and Spots and founder of KHK MMA team Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa praised the performance of Edgar after watching the bout with president of UFC Dana White and CEO of UFC Lorenzo Fertitta.
Shaikh Khalid praised the efforts of the organisation in promoting amateur fighters and congratulated them on the grand success of their latest championship.
“Bahrain has succeeded in proving to everyone that it has evolved in the MMA sport in record time, thanks to the support of Representative of His Majesty for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, chairman of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and president of Bahrain Olympic Committee Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa,” said Shaikh Khalid.
In other bouts, Brazil’s Amanda Nunes stunned the mixed martial arts world with a first-round submission win over Miesha Tate to claim the women’s bantamweight title.
Despite its brevity, the fight at the sold-out T-Mobile Arena easily lived up to its billing as the main event.
Tate was rocked early by punches from strike specialist Nunes, who switched her attention to submission attempts when the fight went to the mat and quickly finished Tate with a rear naked choke after 3:16 of the first round.
It was the same submission Tate used to claim the title from Holly Holm in March, and the belt has now changed hands three times in nine months since Holm beat Ronda Rousey.