Sanjeet Budhwar Knocks Out Abdul Azim Bidakhshi in Matrix Fight Night 14 Headliner

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Former Matrix Fight Night featherweight champion Sanjeet Budhwar (11-2) recorded his 11th professional victory at MFN 14, as he knocked out Afghanistan’s Abdul Azim Badakhshi (14-4) in their main event meeting on Saturday at the Noida Indoor Stadium, in Uttar Pradesh, India.

The opening minutes of the first frame saw both competitors feel each other out, with Badakhshi looking to control the center while keeping his foe on the end of creative spinning-kick attacks and punches. Budhwar, on the other hand, seemed content staying on the outside while making his reads, clearly looking for counter shots. However, the round soon came to a halt, first due to a groin strike by Badakhshi followed by an accidental eye poke by the Afghan with 10 seconds left in the first stanza.

Following a check-up on Budhwar by the ringside physicians and an eight-minute gap in action, the athletes resumed directly in Round 2. Budhwar managed to control the center of the cage with his forward pressure but the Afghan continued to sneakily maintain distance, employing switch kicks to the head coupled with inside leg kicks.

Budhwar continued to stalk Badakhshi, looking to unload his power while landing a stiff jab that visibly wobbled his opponent. Although Badakhshi got back to pressuring Budhwar with kicks to the body and head, Budhwar found an opening to uncork a thunderous left hook that sent his adversary crashing to the canvas. Badakhshi also landed a hook of his own on the former champion at the same time, a strike that wobbled Budhwar but didn’t stop him from attempting to land another shot on his downed Afghan adversary, forcing referee Jim Perdios to stop the fight at the 3:18 mark of Round 2.

In the co-main event, Chungren Koren (6-1) secured the interim bantamweight title after putting on a grappling clinic against former Brave CF competitor Mohammad Farhad (12-5) and stopping him at the3:48 mark of Round 4 with his relentless ground-and-pound assault.

In other action, Dushyant Singh walked away with a unanimous decision win over Mairidin Newmai in a bantamweight meeting; Neeraj Panghal took a unanimous verdict against Sk Akib Ali in a lightweight clash; Owais Yaqoob earned a nod from all three judges in his lightweight contest with Afghanistan's Azim Mokhlis; Sahil Rana racked up his ninth professional victory with a dominant unanimous decision victory over Tanzania's Chris Tibenda in a bantamweight tilt; Kapil Kumar earned his first professional win with a unanimous decision victory over Ajay Payal in their bantamweight scrap; 19-year-od Pravin Wagh eked out a majority decision win over Balveer Singh Tomar at 135 pounds; Ishika Thite submitted Tenzin Pema with a rear-naked choke at the 4:04 mark of Round 1 in an atomweight contest and Aminder Bisht defeated Arsenba Ozukum via knockout 1:13 into Round 2 at flyweight.