Cristiano Marcello in photo from personal archives.
The inaugural installment of Desert Force Fight Championship in Amman was a success both in terms of the quality of fights on the card and the reaction from the crowd. Besides the better-than-expected turn-out, the exemplary organization behind the event, with its VIP seating for a select public, stood out.
All eleven fights on the card ended in a knockout or a submission, which pleased those in attendance, including members of the royal family like princes Hachem Bin Hussein and Hussein Mirza, the latter going out of his way to hold a reception for all the fighters after the event.
Of the eleven bouts, five were between Middle Eastern fighters. The idea is to promote these matchups so that soon international-caliber athletes will arise in the region. Catching attention were the Jiu-Jitsu versus kickboxing and Jiu-Jitsu versus taekwondo matchups, reminiscent of the early days of MMA. Jiu-Jitsu had a clear advantage (watch below).
The bouts that stood out on the international card were Brazil’s Cristiano Marcello facing off against tough Frenchman Freddy Thulle and the main event between Brazilian stalwart kickboxer Bruno Carvalho and young American wrestler Marcos Marques. Both were won by the Brazilians via submission in the final round.
Complete results:
Pavel Kusch (Ukraine) defeated Marco “Bad Face” Antonio (Brazil) via guillotine in R1
Cristiano Marcello (Brazill) defeated Freddy Thole (France) via triangle in R3
Francimar “Bodão” Barroso (Brazil) defeated Abhijeet Petka (India) via knockout in R1
Bruno Carvalho (Brazil) defeated Marco Marques (USA) via guillotine in R2
Jorge Luis Michelan (Brazil) defeated Bhupesh Kamble (India) via TKO in R1
Gabriel Tayeh (Jordan BJJ) defeated Jad AlWahsh (Jordan) via armbar in R1
Mahmoud Gogazi Hussein (Jordan) defeated Muhannad Daasan
Khaled Walid (Syria) defeated Khalil Eissa (Egypt) in R1
Hashim Arkhagha (Jordan) defeated Mohammed El Dawansy (Egypt) via armbar in R1
Yousef “Polvo” Alhamad (Kuwait) defeated Daniel Hilal (Lebanon) via guillotine in R1
Khaled Abdulkareem (Iraq) defeated Diaa Shattat (Jordan) via knockout in R1