Halil Amir on end-of-round stoppage win over Ahmed Mujtaba: “I would have knocked him out in the second round”

Halil Amir believes he would have gone on to finish Ahmed Mujtaba had both men come out of their corners to resume action in the second frame of their pivotal lightweight clash at ONE Fight Night 16.

‘No Mercy’ gave the Pakistani athlete a beating towards the end of the opening stanza, having survived a deep kimura and a triangle midway through the round.

For a good 20 seconds, there were a couple of moments where he came close to nudging out a finish inside the first five minutes.

However, ‘Wolverine’ managed to respond to referee Herb Dean’s calls throughout that assault. The Pakistani martial artist didn’t answer from his stool, though, which eventually led to Dean waving off action just as things were about to get started.

Speaking on the rather exceptional TKO win, the 29-year-old Turk admits that Dean got the decision spot on. Should the match have resumed, Halil Amir suggested that he would have still gone on to claim his third promotional victory with a highlight-reel moment.

The Antalya native said:

“His psychology obviously was quite down, like his emotions were quite down, and I would have knocked him out in the second round.”

Watch the interview here:

With the finish, the No.4-ranked lightweight contender made it two from two in 2023. This victory comes seven months after he took out Maurice Abevi at ONE Fight Night 9.

At the same time, Halil Amir could expect to climb up the ranks or maintain his stronghold on his current spot as he seeks a shot at the ONE lightweight MMA world title, currently in possession of Christian Lee.

ONE Fight Night 16 is available to watch via replay for Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America. The global fanbase can relive the entire card via ONE Championship’s YouTube channel or the ONE Super App.