The Super Fight League Semi-Finals took place last weekend on February 17th & 18th, 2017 at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi, India.
The first semi-final event pitted the Bengaluru Tigers against Sher-E-Punjab. Apart from one fight ending after Round 1 due to Doctor Stoppage, all other bouts ended in the opening stanza.
Kantharaj Agasa picked up Sher-E-Punjab’s first win in the Bantamweight Division earning 4 points via TKO doctor stoppage after the end of Round 1 to kick off the event. The second fight of the evening was in the Featherweight Division and saw Tanvir Boora make quick work of his opponent winning via TKO at a mere 0:37 seconds into Round 1 earning another 4 points for his team. This put Sher-E-Punjab up 8-0 after the two openings fights.
The Women’s MMA bout of the evening pitted undefeated Asha Roka against Hannah Kampf of the United States. Roka continued Sher-E-Punjab’s trend for quick finishes locking in a very deep guillotine choke that put her opponent to sleep at 0:42 of Round 1. The submission victory awarded Sher-E-Punjab 5 points increasing their lead to 13-0.
Former Ultimate Fighter contestant Sascha Sharma picked up Bengaluru’s first points of the night earning a Round 1 submission win and 5 points with a rear-naked choke over American and World Series of Fighting veteran Patrick Benson. The quick submission win gave Bengaluru a chance again in the match now being down only 8 points with two bouts remaining.
The Co-Main Event ended again in very quick fashion with English Welterweight Jagz Singh TKO’ing Seth Rosario at 0:49 of Round 1. Another 4 points for The Tigers and a score of 13 – 9 as the teams entered the finals.
The Main Event was of utter importance with the teams being divided by only four points entering the bout. Light Heavyweight Hemant Wadekar was ready to carry the weight of his team and delivered a Round 1 rear-naked choke submission at 1:16 to earn Sher-E-Punjab an additional 5 points and a definitive 18 – 9 win over the Bengaluru Tigers.
On February 18th, Arjun Rampal’s Delhi Heroes took on Jacqueline Fernandez’s Goa Pirates in the second semi-final event of the weekend.
Much like the previous semi-final match the Delhi Heroes vs. Goa Pirates semi-final featured Round 1 finishes and exciting bouts. In the opening Bantamweight fight Brazilian Valmyr Neto made quick work of his opponent with a Submission via triangle choke at 2:00 of Round 1. The early submission victory saw Delhi Heroes jump ahead with a 5 point lead. The second bout was in the Featherweight division and despite an early rush from Krishan Riwat, Jacky Galot was able to land a quick TKO victory at 1:13 of Round 1 earning another 4 points for Delhi Heroes and increasing the lead to 9 – 0.
The Women’s MMA bout of the semi-final was the night’s longest fight with Delhi’s Daisy Singh battling against Goa’s Suchika Tariyal. With a mere 0:30 remaining in Round 3 Suchika was able to secure an armbar submission win and earn her team Goa Pirates a desperately needed 5 points closing the score to 9 – 5.
Afghanistan’s Abdul Azeem Badakhshi earned 6 huge points via Knockout at 2:56 of Round 1 to push Delhi Heroes over the 15 point score mark. After 4 bouts Delhi Heroes lead the Goa Pirates 15 – 5. With two bouts remaining, and finishes worth 5 or 6 points, Goa still stood a chance.
The Co-Main Event saw well-known SFL fighter and Delhi Team Captain Jason Ramesh Solomon earn a rear-naked choke submission win over Welterweight Satendar Bakura. MMA fans may remember the highly flamboyant “Delhi Don” Solomon who was KO’d in a mere 0:09 in the Main Event of SFL 43.
With the submission victory Solomon earned Delhi Heroes an additional 5 points, moving ahead to 20 – 5. Despite the ability to win, Sandeep Kumar Dahiya showed his brute strength and power in the Light Heavyweight Main Event earning a Submission win at 3:14 of Round 1. While the additional 5 points were not enough to secure the win for Goa Pirates, the team felt redemption after the Main Event win.
With the Semi-Finals in the books the stage is set for the Super Fight League Finals between Sher-E-Punjab vs. Delhi Heroes on February 25th, 2017 at 7:00 PM local time in India and 8:30 AM ET / 5:30 AM PT in the United States.
On February 24th, Goa Pirates will take on Bengaluru Tigers for the 3rd Place match at 7:00 PM local India time and 8:30 AM ET / 5:30 AM PT in the United States.
