Igor Subora Outpoints Sherif Mohamed At ONE: QUEST FOR POWER

Igor Subora (6-3) prevailed in his light heavyweight ONE debut on Saturday in Jakarta, sweeping the judges’ scorecards after three rounds of battle against Sherif Mohamed (8-2).

The Manila-based Ukrainian looked relaxed from the start against a tense Sherif, but it was the Egyptian who struck first, rushing in and scoring a takedown against the fence. However, Subora was able to avoid damage while on his back, get up, and then rally back with a takedown of his own.

From there, Subora advanced to mount, punished Sherif with punches, and prompted him to turn and give up his back. Sherif quickly also got to his feet in the process, however. Back upright, “The Shark” took several long punches to the head and unsuccessfully shot in for another takedown attempt to close the round.

Subora began the second stanza by walking Sherif down and peppering him with more strikes. After repeated failed takedown attempts from Sherif, the Egyptian ended up underneath the F.I.S.T. athlete, and took more ground and pound from the Ukrainian.

For the first half of the final round, Subora pressed an increasingly off-balance Sherif backward, and deftly defended takedown attempts from the Egyptian Top Team member.

In the final two minutes, however, it was Sherif who became the aggressor, wading into Subora with big, wide punches that mostly missed their mark, but still prompted his opponent to counter-punch, back-pedal, and even outright run away.

Still, Subora had scored enough to earn the nod from all three ringside judges, earning him his first-ever ONE Championship win in a new weight class.