UFC heavyweight Hamdy Abdelwahab looked to bounce back from a rough promotional debut against Jamal Pogues at UFC Riyadh on Saturday.
Abdelwahab (3-0) had his UFC debut at UFC 277 against Don’Tale Mayes. He went onto earn a split-decision victory, but that was overturned after Abdelwahab tested positive for PEDs.
Pogues (11-4) is a much more experienced fighter, and was coming off a win over Thomas Petersen last February. 2-1 in his UFC run he hoped to add to that at UFC Riyadh.
Round 1 Abdelwahab came out firing big shots up top landing two big right hands on Pogues forcing his opponent to shoot. Abdelwabah was able to turn Pogues to the cage, take him down, but didn’t do much damage. The rest of the round was all Pogues using his boxing to land constant jabs and straight hands to Abdelwahab’s face.
Round 2 Abdelwahab came out much more aggressive with the pressure and combinations, but was still eating way too many easy jabs. The pressure was there, but Pogues was able to move laterally rather easily.
Round 3 was all Pogues with the crisp boxing and Abdelwahab’s inability to cut the cage off. He tried to throw some heavy shots and find a finish, but was unable to.
It didn’t matter as the judges still awarded Abdelwabah the split-decision victory in Riyadh.
Official Result: Hamdy Abdelwahab def. Jamal Pogues via Split Decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
