By Caoilte de Barra
Day 5 of the 2021 IMMAF World Championships has concluded in the Jiu-Jitsu Arena in Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi. Sixteen amateur Champions were crowned as the Juniors took centre stage for the first day of finals. The rescheduled tournament is hosted by the UAE Jiu-Jitsu and MMA Federation, with backing from the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and in partnership with Palms Sports.
The day saw the venue move from four cages to one cage and the stage extended for fighter walkouts.
RMMAU athletes dominated the day with athletes from the Federation winning all but one of their fights. They had a flawless run of form in the women’s division, going five of five. Valeriya Tepysheva kicked things off with a TKO/KO victory over Aigerim Manakova. This was followed by decision wins from her teammates.
Kazakhstan picked up two medals through Karina Sisenova and Yersultan Shakenbay. Both were won in highly competitive decision bouts.
2019 Youth World Champion Akhmad Amaev of RMMMAU added a Junior gold medal to his collection as he continues his development in IMMAF. His grappling display was impressive as he scored an amazing inverted triangle choke.
Over at Junior Bantamweight, a new champion was crowned as RMMAU’s Asef Chopurov outpointed Ivan Pasych in a back and forth fight. He is now top of the division once run by Muhammad Mokaev.
In the final bout of the evening, Tajikistan’sAsadbek Mannonov impressed. The Super Heavyweight fighter showed off impressive striking and wrestling in his bout with Ukraine’s Mykyta Tsybulia before finishing him in the second round.
The final day of the competition will take place tomorrow with the Senior finals set to take place. The action kicks off from 5 pm GST (UTC+4) live at immaf.tv. For all information regarding the brackets and the schedule visit My Next Match.
