The moment Rizwan ‘The Haider ‘ Ali was declared the winner of the Road to Brave 100 Lightweight fight at Pakistan Combat Night 2025 main event. PHOTO COURTESY: ACTIVIT
LAHORE:
Everyone was there for the fight and the fighters, who wore their hearts on their sleeves, what is Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) after all, if not a story of rise and fall.
But parts of the octagon in the middle of the Pakistan Combat Night 2025 indoor setup at the DHA Phase 6 Sports Complex broke twice during the all-important day on Sunday, August 24.
This was perhaps the perfect summing up and a metaphor of what the event was like, a mixed bag, with an immense hope for a better future for the Pakistani MMA fighters and a lot of learning to do for the Pakistan MMA Federation and Brave Gym Pakistan when it comes to holding an international event.
The ambience was intended to be glamourous with a dark indoor arena, lights relentlessly flashing, and patriotic songs blaring inside.
The crowds were increasing as the evening was approaching, and we were told that the entry for the MMA fights was on a ticket and not free.
The event was the final day of the Pakistan MMA Open Championships for amateur fighters, who competed in their quarterfinals and semifinals on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
The amateur fighters, including Siddiqullah in Bantamweight, Ayyan Hussan in featherweight, Shahab Ali in lightweight, Sajid Qutoshi in welterweight, and Muhammad Sami in middleweight, booked their places in the 2025 IMMAF World Championships, set to take place in Tbilisi, Georgia, next month.
Meanwhile, the main card of the six Road to Brave 100 fights was scheduled to take place in the evening with Rizwan ‘The Haider’ Ali against Egypt’s Mohmed Adham as the main event.
The event was supported by the government of Punjab, with Maryam Nawaz’s face on the posters calling for women’s empowerment.
Rizwan won the bout with a split decision, a very controversial one.
Rizwan was clearly under pressure during the fight; he was, after all, looking to win and keep his undefeated record intact, while Adham was in it to make his 11-win and four-loss record into a 12-win, 4-loss one.
While the rest of the Pakistani fighters in the six Road to Brave 100 fights were dominant against their foreign opponents, Rizwan was clearly the weakest link of the night, given the hype of it all.
And it would make perfect sense, too, as the boy from Gujjar Khan was making his way back to the competitive bouts after seven months.
“I just want to win, I am good and grappling, but I am making a lot of effort to improve my overall defence and striking abilities,” Rizwan told The Express Tribune on Saturday when he was at Brave Gym for weigh-in.
“I know Adham is good; he will be a tough opponent.”
Rizwan is known for his undefated streak and beating Indian fighters back-to-back last year.
PHOTO COURTESY: ACTIVIT
Round one
As the fight began, Adham in blue was a dominant force in the round-of-three match-up.
He began the first round immediately with a takedown attempt and had Rizwan in red on the defensive.
Adham again made a point to go for the second takedown attempt after a flurry of punches from Rizwan.
The Egyptian was clearly more forceful and pushing Rizwan against the fence.
Mostly stalling the local hero, but took down Rizwan again for the third time; however, he was not able to keep him on the floor for too long.
Adham’s strategy was to have as many take-downs as he could and stall the rest of the match, taking advantage of his being a welterweight fighter compared to Rizwan, who competes in the lightweight category.
Adham was not giving Rizwan any opportunity to have his way at the end of the first round.
Round two
The second round was the same story, with Adham hurting Rizwan on the shoulder within the first few seconds, chasing him down the cage.
Adham was showing the octagon control. He was clearly more effective when it came to take-down attempts, and was replying to Rizwan with equal intensity when it came to strikes.
There was a criticism to be made when it came to refereeing, as the fighters throughout the day would try and stall the fight on the clock, and the referee would just not separate the opponents to make way for the action.
Rizwan, too, spent most of the time in this fight against the fence, almost one minute and 30 seconds in the first part of the second round, pulling punches at Adham’s back and attempting to loosen the grip.
Rizwan showed off some of his boxing skills, landing a jab or two as the crowd cheered for the fighters incessantly under the flashing lights and patriotic soundtracks before, during, and in between the fight.
But just when Adham was attempting another take down, forcing the two towards the fence, the cage broke off, leaving the two hanging midair, with half of their bodies outside the platform.
The force of the take-down against a loose cage door seemed to have left Adham hurt, as he got up with a limp.
The cage was also in bad shape earlier on Sunday when another side of the octagon was welded and mended after three amateur fights in the afternoon.
The incident was enough to leave a mark, which perhaps Pakistan needs to improve on the facilities, and the organisation needs to be rethought and improved, especially when hosting national and international bouts with player safety at stake.
Pakistan remains lightyears behind the rest of the world in that context.
The entire cage-fail situation should have been enough for Adham to abandon the fight and let it go, but he chose to carry it on, and the clock was running throughout this portion of the second round.
The referee signalled a break in the second round, but the timer was still on, and the fastest solution that the organisers could come up with was asking several men to hold and seal the broken part of the octagon with their hands and bodies.
The sight was a hilarious one, because had the fighters come their way, each one of them, along with the fighters, would have been on the floor from the elevated otagon platform.
One of the men holding the broken octagon part even tried to put a plastic seal on it, which seemed lacking and unprofessional.
With the second round back on, Adham made another attempt at take takedown, but the time ran out, and the two fighters smiled and cheered each other by the end of it.
PHOTO COURTESY: ACTIVIT
Round three
Adham was again looking for a takedown and held Rizwan against the fence in the first minute of the third round, but Rizwan managed to break free to throw punches at Adham.
But the Cairo-born fighter again made an attempt at take takedown with a single leg first and then again pushing Rizwan to the fence.
Adham was successful in bringing Rizwan down, but the latter recouperated quickly on his feet.
Adham then held Rizwan by his neck.
But just as Adham was trying to keep the pressure on, he was again let down by the cage, as the poster with the logo on it covering the bar came off and hurt Adham in the eye.
Adham was seen holding his eye.
After an awkward pause, the fight did resume, and the two boxed with each other until Adham forced Rizwan against the fence again with two minutes to go in round three.
Adham tightened his grip just underneath of Rizwan’s rump, pinning him to the walls of the cage with every ounce of energy in his being, while Rizwan punched Adham and elbowed his opponents back.
However, to demonstrate that Rizwan has not been causing him significant damage, Adham was striking Rizwan’s thighs with his knees, exhibiting relentless power and hoping the judges would perceive him as the dominant fighter.
Rizwan was hurting Adham on the sides of his back and then on the head, especially on the ears, as the crowd began to count down to end the third round and the fight.
To most people who witnessed it, it was clear that Adham was a dominant one and ended the third round on top as well.
The verdict and bad look
Both fighters seemed to believe that they had won, but it began to look awkward and almost unfair when the Pakistan MMA Federation President Omar Ahmed and owner of Brave Gym Pakistan, the man organising this event, stood behind Rizwan, pumping him up right before the third round began.
One could predict at that moment that Rizwan would eventually win this fight, as close as it was but no matter what, because how would a fighter who has the president of the body organising this event in his corner lose?
It was a bad look as this took away the credibility of the result, even though the fight was a good one, and Rizwan was exhibiting great takedown defence, but the malfunctioning octagon, the president of the organisation holding the event on Rizwan’s side, just made it feel biased and unprofessional.
If anything, Omar Ahmed’s cheering on Rizwan and siding with him in the event held at the home turf was working against Rizwan. This sort of behaviour leaves questions about the integrity of the results in a sport that is already globally infamous for ethical and moral controversies.
It was hard not to question the integrity of the decision after this kind of behaviour from the officials.
Rizwan ended up winning the bout on a split decision with two out of three referees in his favour.
The decision came out as 29-27, 29-28 from two judges in Rizwan’s favour, and 29-28 in Adham’s favour from one judge.
Adham was in disbelief and was seen on his knees, holding down his head in his hands on the corner of the cage, while Rizwan and his team celebrated in the centre of it all.
PHOTO COURTESY: ACTIVIT
Fantastically generous
Before Rizwan’s bout, Karachi’s Eman ‘Falcon’ Khan was impressive in the cage, registering her win in less than 40 seconds against Tunisia’s Maha Houmiel.
It was rather unusual to see the same bout played twice. In the first round, Eman knocked out Maha in less than 30 seconds, but Maha protested the referee’s decision to be unfair and premature.
Eman, with her generous spirit, albeit against the norm of MMA rules, chose the rematch on the spot and again knocked Maha out in less than 40 seconds.
In other fights, Babar Ali defeated Azerbaijan’s Serkhan Valili with a technical knockout in the third round.
PHOTO COURTESY: ACTIVIT
Winning in style
Zia Mashwani of team Fight Fortress came in with a traditional Pashto tune to fight against Iran’s
Saman Moradmand defeated him through submission in the third round of his bantamweight fight.
Zia was confident and knew his capability in the cage; however, at the end of the bout, he went to check up on Moradmand, who was upset and disappointed in his performance.
Meanwhile, Aqib Awan outclassed Egypt’s Al Hassan Mohamed in the second round on technical knockout.
PHOTO COURTESY: ACTIVIT
On a day’s notice
Ismail Khan also emerged as the winner in the fight against Zubair Khan, who was filling in for Uzbekistan’s Lazizhhon Uzbehov, who was unable to make it to the event.
Everyone appreciated Zubair for taking on the fight on a day’s notice.
Ismail defeated Zubair through submission in three minutes and 40 seconds of the first round.
“I just want to thank Zubair, he was a great sport, and I was trying not to hurt him much,” Ismail.
Medical treatment
Moradmand, like other fighters, also received his post-fight check-up in a facility set up by ACTIVIT and National Hospital DHA Lahore. The medical camp was an intitative taken by the CEO ACTIVIT RD Rizwan Ahmed.
Moradmand had taken a lot of damage from the fight; he had scratches on his back, but was in good spirits while the nurses and doctors took care of him.
PHOTO COURTESY: ACTIVIT
Zia was also getting ready for the check-up when this correspondent entered the facility, which was set up in the area where the cafeteria was supposed to be.
The place was split into two portions, one for the medical facility and the other for the camera and television crew who were covering the Ghani Cricket tournament, taking place at the main ground of the DHA Phase 6 Sports Complex.
“The best thing about these buts and the MMA fighters is that they fight hard, but as soon as they are out of the cage, they are all friendly, they don’t hold grudges like that, so I feel that is the most touching part of the sport. The sportsman spirit. For me, that has been a highlight,” concluded event partners ACTIVIT and National Hospital DHA official Sheraz Karamat, who was dealing with the fighters and event management.