Ali Al Qaisi puts on a show to beat Jesse Arnett in UAE Warriors trilogy bout

Iranian Amir Fazli claims vacant middleweight title with victory over Brazilian Juscellino Ferreira

Ali Al Qaisi is congratulated by Abdulmunam Al Hashemi, chairman of Palms Sports, after his victory over Jesse Arnett. Photo: UAE Warriors

Ali Al Qaisi produced a dominant performance over Jesse Arnett to see out their trilogy with his second win over the Canadian and retain his UAE Warriors featherweight title in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Having submitted Arnett in their second meeting to regain the belt last September, this time it went to the judges scorecards, with the Jordanian awarded a unanimous decision at the Etihad Arena.

“This fight could have ended early if not for my fans who had requested me to put up a show by going the distance,” Al Qaisi said.

“My preparation for Jesse was great and that reflected on the fight tonight. I’m glad with the show I put up. I love to compete in the UAE because I have lots of fans behind me.

"Also by winning, this featherweight belt remains in Abu Dhabi and in the Arab World.”

Arnett avoided most of Al Qaisi's offensive moves in the first two rounds. The champion suffered a bloody nose in the second but that only fuelled him to come back stronger.

Al Qaisi produced a fine all-round performance, scoring consistently through punches, high knee strikes and his spinning arm in a standing battle throughout the five rounds.

Al Qaisi landed 56 scoring shots to Arnett’s 16. He was also successful with his kicks and high knee blows, coming out 23 against two.

“I would have finished him off even if I had to fight with a broken arm,” Al Qaisi said after improving his career record to 15 wins against six losses.

“I’m going to celebrate this win with my team, family, friends and many of my fans tonight and then get ready for a title defence on whoever the promotion would bring next.”

In the co-main event, Iran's Amir Fazli clinched victory over Brazilian Juscelino Ferreira by unanimous decision to take home the vacant middleweight title.

Fazli was then joined in the cage by light heavyweight champion Tarek Suleiman who called for a champion v champion match-up in the future.

“I was the last one to challenge for the middleweight title and now we have a champion and now I want to drop down in the weight to challenge him for this belt,” Suleiman said.

“Amir is a respected fighter with a huge background in kickboxing. It’s an honour for me to challenge him for the title. Hopefully the promotion can schedule this meeting for us to put on a show by the end of this year.”

Turkey's Attila Korkmaz won the opening bout against Croatia's Karlo Caput in the lightweight division with a submission heel-lock in just two minutes and 35 seconds of the first round.

Brazilian Alex da Silva knocked out Ali Mashrapov of Kyrgyzstan in Round 3 of the catchweight 160lbs, while Abdullo Khodzhaev made a winning debut in the promotion.

Tajikistan's Khodzhaev beat Rusten Kudaybergenov of Kazakhstan via a rear naked choke in Round 1 in the lightweight to stretch his win streak to five.

Furkatbek Yokubov of Uzbekistan outclassed Junifer Kimmayong of the Philippines in the first round of the catchweight 132lbs while Swede Elin Oberg made it two from two in the promotion with a first round win over China’s Ding Miao in the catchweight 121lbs.

In the lightweight division, Russia's Amru Magomedov stretched his undefeated run to six with a first round submission of Brazilian Renan Oliveira and his compatriot Murad Bilarov defeated Bagysh Zharmamatov of Kyrgyzstan via submission in the third round.

Russian Ullubiy Amirzhanov made short work of Croatian Filip Maric via a guillotine submission in just 26 seconds of the opening round.