Mohammad Alavi walked away from the cage on Friday night undefeated but the fight result came close to going the other way after his fight with Cody Barnwell ended prematurely in the 4th round.
The two clashed for the Superfight MMA lightweight title in the main event of Superfight MMA 16.
It was an evenly contested bout with Alavi struggling to impose his wrestling game with former IMMAF amateur Barnwell showing good balance and general takedown defence. On his feet though, Alavi gave as good as he got, predominantly trying to get inside before unloading while Barnwell opted for shots from range.
The longer the bout went the more it seemed like it would be advantageous to Barnwell however early in the 4th round, a large cut opened up over the eye of Barnwell. The referee deemed it having come from a headbutt and as the fight could not continue, they went to the judges scorecards.
Two judges scored it to Alavi while the other to Barnwell. Per tapology, Alavi moves to 6-0 as a pro while Barnwell drops to 3-2.
With the way it ended and how close it was, we may just see these two battling it out again sooner rather than later.
Also on the card, in a strawweight clash between two making the pro debuts, Jacinta Austin outscored Olivia Ukmar to claim a unanimous decision victory.
The event took place at Club Punchbowl in New South Wales on Friday, 12 March 2021, and was streamed live on Epicentre.tv
Results (Pro):
- Mohammed Alavi def. Cody Barnwell via *Decision (Split)
- Jacinta Austin def. Olivia Ukmar via Decision (Unanimous)
*Fight ended prematurely after a head-collision deemed accidental, stopped the contest due to a cut over Barnwell’s eye.
Results (Amateur):
- Jordan Thomas def. Michael Stanoff via Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 4, 1:55
- David Khu def. Zach Stanley via KO/TKO, Rd 1
- Daniel Mitchell def. Josh Waltsibuhl via Decision (Unanimous)
- Kevin Sheridan def. Abraham Paku via Decision (Unanimous)
- Joe Davis def. Michael Lorenzo via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 0:45
- Alfred Stoddart def. Ryan Cambell via Decision (Split)
- Akram Naman def. George Abou Rizk via Decision (Unanimous)
- Hayden Limebeer def. Tristan Conroy via Decision (Unanimous)
- Sharbel Salmo def. Arbaz Lqbal via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 0:12
- Leon Katsiaras def. Jayden Barlow via Decision (Split)
- Matteo Bianchino def. Connor Downey via KO/TKO, Rd 3, 2:31
