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RIYADH: The 2024 PFL MENA welterweight champion, Omar Al-Dafrawy, delivered another show-stopping performance in front of a roaring Saudi crowd on Thursday night when he secured a spectacular first-round submission win over Italy’s Daniele Miceli.

Miceli wasted no time shooting for an early takedown, but Al-Dafrawy turned the tables with a textbook triangle choke. Miceli tried to power out, but the Egyptian champion tightened the hold and forced the tap just 1:15 into the fight.

Speaking exclusively to Arab News after his victory in the PFL MENA Riyadh main event, held at The Green Halls, Al-Dafrawy declared: “The plan is to fight the PFL Europe champion of 2024, so if he’s ready to come down here and grace the land, I’ll show.”

This was the third triangle choke on Al-Dafrawy’s record. He said: “I think I am probably the biggest superstar in the Arab World right now, whether you like it or not. No one has the skill set that I have. No one is as eager as I am. I took six fighters on short notice in the last PFL MENA in Jeddah, six fighters, all of them over 15 wins.”

Describing himself as “dangerous,” he added: “I’m getting the respect that I deserve where I go, so there’s no reason that I don’t rise to the occasion.”

Al-Dafrawy said he challenged any fighter, Arabian or international, in his bid to become “the best in the world.”

In the co-main event, 2024 PFL Welterweight runner-up Mohammad Alaqraa piled on relentless pressure to earn a dominant unanimous decision victory over Omar Hussein. Judges scored the contest 30-27 across the board to advance Alaqraa advances to the welterweight tournament semifinals.

Elsewhere on the card, ������Ƶ’s own Hattan Al-Saif (4-0 amateur) once again thrilled local fans with a second-round TKO over Nour Al-Fliti in their atomweight amateur bout. Al-Saif overwhelmed Al-Fliti with knees and kicks before the session was waved off due to injury in round two.

In an action-packed bout, Mohamed Zarey dug deep to defeat Ayman Galal by unanimous decision and punch his ticket to the welterweight semifinals. Zarey survived an early barrage to claim the biggest win of his PFL career and will now face Alaqraa.

On the bantamweight side, Xavier Alaoui leaned on his wrestling to shut down Ziad Ayman with a 30-27 sweep on the scorecards, moving into the next round. Mokhtar Benkaci needed just 57 seconds to dispatch Marcel Adur with a left hook to the body for a first-round TKO.

Badreddine Diani outpointed Ahmed Abdelbast Darwish in a closely contested three-round battle, earning a unanimous nod and advancing to face Amir Fazli, who himself scored a knockout over Rostem Akman in round two of their quarterfinal.

In another bantamweight thriller, Nawras Abzakh displayed power and precision, stopping Ali Yazbeck with ground and pound in the second round to move one step closer to a PFL belt. Islam Youssef, stepping in at short notice, delivered a spectacular flying knee knockout to Benyamin Ghahreman with five seconds left in round two.

Kicking off the night, Abdelrahman Alhyasat remained undefeated by submitting Anthony Zeidan with a rear naked choke in round two of their lightweight bout.

The PFL MENA semifinals are now set, promising even more fireworks as regional champions pursue title glory.

SILVIS, Illinois: Doug Ghim shot a 3-under par 68 and held onto a one-stroke lead over Max Homa and a group of contenders at the John Deere Classic on Friday in Silvis, Illinois

Homa is part of a five-way tie for second after also posting a 68 late Friday afternoon at TPC Deere Run. He matched Ghim at 12 under with a birdie at the par-5 17th hole, but after finding a bunker off the 18th tee he failed to save par and dropped back a shot.

Ghim, a 29-year-old Illinois native, is hoping to land his maiden PGA Tour victory in his home state.

“They couldn’t make it today but I’m anticipating family coming (Saturday), and I’m excited about that,” Ghim said.

Ghim made an eagle for the second straight round, holing out from 179 yards away at the par-4 15th.

“I guess holing out two days in a row is always nice,” he said. “It’s been couple years since I think I holed out from the fairway. To get two back-to- back days is a great.”

He reached 13 under for the tournament with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 4-5, but Ghim bogeyed his closing hole, No. 9.

Homa entered the week an abysmal No. 122 in the FedEx Cup standings amid a disappointing season, but now he’s in the mix for his first win since 2023.

“I don’t think really much changes” on the weekend, Homa said. “I mean, just play the golf course. You’re going to have to shoot really low. If you went out there and tried to do something specific, I’m not so sure that is going to work. Somebody can go out there and shoot 11-under out there and jump everybody.

“So just go do what we did today and play another round of golf. Just keep waiting until the back nine on Sunday basically.”

The round of the day belonged to defending champion Davis Thompson, whose bogey-free 63 catapulted him to 11 under. Tied with Homa and Thompson are Brian Campbell (66), David Lipsky (67) and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (66).

“(On Thursday) I hit a lot of great putts early but they were just burning the edges,” said Thompson, who made four birdies on each nine Friday. “Then I was able to make a few on the back nine (Thursday) and just ride that momentum into today.”

Colombia’s Camilo Villegas (66) and Si Woo Kim of South Korea (67) are part of a group at 10 under as the second round finished up late Friday.

Rickie Fowler dropped four shots in a four-hole span on his back nine, with two bogeys and a double bogey, but he birdied No. 17 to finish up a 1-over 72 and get to 5 under, which wound up being the cut line at the end of the day.

Notable names who missed the cut included Tom Kim of South Korea (4 under), Australian Jason Day (2 under), J.T. Poston (1 under) and Canadian Adam Hadwin (2 over).