Set for Friday, January 19, 2024, is the first big pro-event of the year, the bu Dhabi Extreme Championship – commonly referred to as ADXC. The event had its first show back in October 2023. Despite the novel ruleset (more on that below), the first ADXC did provide fun and entertaining matches that were well worth revisiting and this second round appears to have all the ingredients for success with fun match-ups and a heavier appeal towards MMA fans with a couple of big UFC names on the main card.
Headlining the event are the aforementioned MMA athletes, namely, Aljamain Sterling and Chase Hooper. “Aljo” is one of the most important UFC bantamweights of all time, having held the title of MMA’s prime promotion in 4 bouts where his grappling prowess prevailed. Sterling’s wrestling is very solid and so is his grappling, particularly proficient in his back-taking ability. Hooper is another cage fighter with outstanding jiu-jitsu, who won the IBJJF Pan Championships in the juvenile blue belt division back in 2016, making this a very interesting matchup.
The co-main event will feature the current AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro champion, Bruno Lima of Portugal against his nemesis of the 2020 European Open final, Manuel Ribamar. Two completely diverse styles of grappling that made for a very fun show last time. Bruno has an unorthodox style of guard playing that uses the forward pressure of his opponents to create sweeping sequences, while Riba is an outside passer with speed and athleticism. These characteristics that made Bruno’s life very hard in their match, 4 years ago. Has Lima learned from this past experience? We will find out.
Overall the ADXC2 is stacked with talent, so much so that top-tier match-ups like Gabriel Sousa vs. Yuta Shimada or Omar Al Suwaidi vs. Shay Montague didn’t make the main event.
Location:
Mubadala Arena, Abu Dhabi – Arena
Stream:
ajptour.tv
Main Events:
– Aljamain Sterling vs. Chase Hooper – NOGI
– Bruno Lima vs. Manuel Ribamar – GI
Co-Main Events:
– Ffion Davies vs Luana Pinheiro – NOGI
– Espen Mathiesen vs Pablo Lavaselli – GI
Main Card:
– Terrance McKinney vs. Sidney Outlaw – NOGI
– Gabriel Sousa vs. Yuta Shimada – GI
– Ali Monfaradi vs. Talison Costa – GI
– Douglas Lima vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov – NOGI
Prelims Card:
– Omar Al Suwaidi vs. Shay Montague – GI
– Mohammed Al Suwaidi vs. Seonghyeon Joo – NOGI
– Yara Kadish vs. Emily Hernandez Ferreira – GI
– Ahmed Amir vs. Matus Arpas – NOGI
– Match set in a cage
– Standard Matches: 3 Rounds of 3 mins, 1 minute break between them
– Main Events: 5 Rounds of 3 mins, 1 minute break between them
– Winner decided via side judges (3) or submission
– 10 point must system as seen in Boxing
– Knee reaping & submission holds follow standard AJP guidelines
– 50/50 guard sets a standing restart
