Canadians have been the centre of attention in the mixed martial arts world this past week with the announcement that Georges St-Pierre is returning and the spotlight continued to shine Sunday as the UFC returned to Halifax.
Aiemann Zahabi is one of the country’s the most promising young talents and he was successful in his UFC debut against Reginaldo Vieira in a featured preliminary bout.
Zahabi is the younger brother of Tristar Gym’s head trainer Firas Zahabi, who was in his corner. The 29-year-old improved to 7-0 at a professional and got off to a strong start by controlling distance well and switching stances often and effectively. He didn’t manage to get the stoppage, but mounted plenty of offence throughout the fight.
In other preliminary action, Windsor, Ont.’s Randa Markos picked up the biggest victory of her career as she earned a split decision over former UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza. The two 115-pounders developed a rivalry during their time on The Ultimate Fighter reality show in 2014 but never had the chance to compete against one another.
Markos survived a tight arm-triangle choke attempt in the closing moments of the second round and landed the more effective strikes in the first and third rounds, which was ultimately the difference in the fight.
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Welshman Jack Marshman trains with former boxing champion Joe Calzaghe and put his hands to work early against Brazil’s Thiago Santos.
However it was Santos and his impressive arsenal of kicks that ended up being the difference in this middleweight bout.
Santiago Ponzinibbio and Nordine Taleb went the distance in a bloody welterweight tilt with Ponzinibbio walking away with his hands raised.
Gerald Meerschaert submitted Victoria, B.C.’s Ryan Janes with an armbar in the opening bout of the night.
Here are the official UFC Halifax preliminary card results:
— Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Nordine Taleb by unanimous decision
— Randa Markos def. Carla Esparza by split decision
— Aiemann Zahabi def. Reginaldo Vieira by unanimous decision
— Thiago Santos def. Jack Marshman by TKO
— Gerald Meerschaert def. Ryan Janes by submission (armbar)