X1 International: Chennai rekindles its Warrior Spirits

X1 International hosted an explosive fight card in Chennai on the 8th of December. The event showcased 12 interesting matchups featuring young talents across the Nation. This marks the fourth time the promotion is conducting events under its banner featuring multiple professional championship bouts. Previously, similar events were conducted by X1 in Pune, Shillong, and Kohima.

This is the first time an event was hosted by the promotion in the south of India and also the very first professional MMA championship to be held in Chennai. The Chennai crowd went wild when their hometown heroes walked into the octagon with Tamil beats in the background. All the highlight reel moments were created by the local talents who showed complete dominance before the hundreds of fans seated in the Sri Ramachandra Institute in Porur.

The main event featured a featherweight championship bout between Kaushik Saikumar (Combat Kinetics - Red) and Longtsukumba Ao (TCA Nagaland -Blue). The fight went the distance and was won by Kaushik via unanimous decision. Kaushik attacked his opponent with leg kicks from the very first minute until the last second of the fight. He sprawled out of multiple takedown attempts by Longtsukumba and remained on foot. There were some good exchanges from both sides but the effective leg kick campaign earned Kaushik the title strap.

T.N Youth Congress president hands over the title to Syed Abu

In the co-main event, local star Abu Syed Nasseur (Combat Kinetics - Red) defeated Urmish Parekh (Dragon MMA Pune - Blue). The 6'2 tall Syed only took 26 seconds to finish his opponent via TKO. The intense exchange began after the bell which saw Abu throwing some effective leg kick and combination. Urmish also succeeded in connecting a few punches during the short exchange.

Ravi Jadhav (Team Relentless) faced Ritesh Paswan (Bidang MMA) for the Bantamweight championship title. The bout went the distance and saw the Team Relentless star resorting to his wrestling game very earlier in the fight. Ravi secured multiple takedowns and connected with some good shots from the top. The ref bought them back on the feet in almost every round. In the final minutes of the last round, the bout went to a stalemate as Ritesh secured a guillotine while Ravi was attempting a takedown. Ravi Jadhav was declared the bantamweight champion via a unanimous decision by the judges.

Women's strawweight Champion Akshata Khadtare

Akshata Khadtare (Team Relentless) faced Preeti Rana (Kings MMA Chandigarh ) for the Women's Strawweight Championship.title. This was the first and only female fight in the card and Khadtare secured the strap via an RNC (Rear Naked Choke) three minutes into the very first round.

Another Team Relentless contestant Anuj Verma defeated Shubham Bonakudkewar in a featherweight semipro event via TKO in the very first round. Navdeep Agarwal of Team relentless also secured a win against his opponent Sagar Kapilesh (India Top Team) via a Kimura lock in the second round. The bout was in the flyweight category (Semi-Pro).

The fight card witnessed 8 submissions victories, 3 by Decisions, 4 by Technical Knockdowns, and one knockout in the undercard. The complete results of the event are given below:

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Main Card.

Kaushik Saikumar defeats Longtsukumba by Unanimous decision.

Syed Abu Nazzeur defeats Urmish Parekh by TKO - Round 1

Ravi Jadhav defeats Ritesh Paswan by Unanimous Decision

Akshata Khadtare defeats Preeti Rana by Submission ( RNC) - Round 1

Anuj Verma defeats Shubham Bonakudkewar by TKO - Round 1.

Navdeep Aggarwal defeats Sagar Kapilesh by Submission (Kimura) -Round 1.

Under Card.

Aditya Sanil defeats Masoom Ali by Submission ( Triangle Choke) - Round 1.

K. Mungling Konyak defeats Sameer Janjotra by KO -Round 1.

Sumit Bhayan defeats Omkar Patil by Submission (16 seconds into the first round)

Hugai Raj defeats Nikunj Sharma by Submission ( Triangle Choke) -Round 2

Ankur Patel defeats Kekhreineitso by Unanimous Decision.

Anshu Jha defeats Naina Mohammed by submission -Round 1.