Abu Dhabi Fight Championships to Make Women’s MMA History

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Titana Van Polanen Petel (left) faces Outi Louhimo (right) Thursday 

“Women’s History Month” has just started, and a big stride towards equality in women’s sports in the Middle East will happen Thursday morning.

Finland’s Outi Louhimo will face the Netherlands’s Titana Van Polanen Petel at the Abu Dhabi Fighting Championships: Round 3 in the United Arab Emirates in the first ever female MMA match in the region. Abu Dhabi has hosted female grappling in the past, but this will be a big step forward for women’s compbat sports in the Arab world.

Van Polan Petel (left) & Louhimo (right) to make history in Abu Dhabi

Van Polanen Petel is competing in her second mma match, having lost her first fight via decision to Strikeforce Grand Prix participant Maiju Kujala. Louhimo is coming off her first loss, losing by decision to England’s Emma Watson, but has victories over Japan’s Akiko Naito and the Ukraine’s Ekaterina Tarnavskaja.

“To host the first female MMA fight is really exciting and merely adds to the allure and the spectacle of the ADFC,” stated Randall Yogachandra, CEO of I SEE Entertainment, the company organizing the event.

The fight will be under the Unified Rules of Combat and the card is set to start at 7 a.m. pacific time Thursday morning. No word on if the fights will be streaming online.

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• Martial Arts
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