Change of opponent for Saudi fighter Al-Qahtani after PFL MENA weigh-ins

Saudi's Abdullah Al-Qahtani will face Jordan’s Yazeed Hasanain as PFL MENA launches in Riyadh. (Supplied/PFL)
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  • Abdullah Al-Qahtani meets Jordan’s Yazeed Hasanain in the featherweight main event
  • Ali Taleb faces Nawras Abzakh in the bantamweight co-main event

RIYADH: The Professional Fighters League begins the historic inaugural season of PFL MENA (Middle East and North Africa) on Saturday at the Green Halls in Riyadh, with bantamweight and featherweight fighters from the region going head to head.

In the main event, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ’s Abdullah Al-Qahtani is now set to meet Jordan’s Yazeed Hasanain after Taha Bendaoud did not make the contracted weight. Al-Qahtani weighed in at 66 kg, while Hasanain weighed 66.4 kg.

In the co-main event, Iraq’s Ali Taleb faces Jordan’s Nawras Abzakh in a bantamweight contest. Taleb weighed in at 60.5 kg with Abzakh tipping the scales at 61.4 kg.

Maraoune Bellagouit weighed in at 66.1 kg and now faces Mido Mohamed, who weighed in at 65.8 kg. Bellagouit’s original opponent Motaz Askar was not medically cleared by the commission to compete.

Hattan Alsaif, the first female from ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ to sign with a major Mixed Martial Arts promotion, makes her highly anticipated PFL SmartCage debut against Egypt’s Nada Faheem. Alsaif weighed in at 47.1 kg while Faheem was 47.9 kg.

PFL MENA fight card:

Featherweight bout: Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs. Yazeed Hasanain

Bantamweight bout: Ali Taleb vs. Nawras Abzakh

Bantamweight bout: Xavier Alaoui  vs. Rachid El Hazoume

Featherweight bout: Islam Reda vs. Adam Meskini

Bantamweight bout: Tariq Ismail vs. Jalal Al Daaja

Bantamweight bout: Elias Boudegzdame vs. Hassan Mandour

Women’s atomweight bout, amateur: Hattan Alsaif vs. Nada Faheem

Featherweight bout: Maraoune Bellagouit vs. Mido Mohamed

Featherweight bout: Ahmed Tarek vs. Abdelrahman Alhyasat

Flyweight bout, amateur: Malik Basahel vs. Harsh Pandya