Wallhead loves the challenges and is not afraid of anybody
Jimmy ″Judo″ Wallhead’s appearance at Abu Dhabi Warriors 2 was one of the most memorable ones. His fight against Ribeiro was one of the best overall at the second edition of primetime fighting spectacle that Warriors will host again at the beginning of the spring.
Rodrigo Ribeiro (9-13-0) was born in Brazil but has been a UAE resident for quite some time now. His BJJ skills brought him to the Gulf region and now he’s working in UAE nation’s armed forces where he teaches Jiu-Jitsu. Ribeiro fought and trained at the highest level and to match him up against a skilful Judo practitioner like Jimmy Wallhead (27-9-0), was just a cherry on top of the cream. A layman might predicted a fight that will mainly take place on the ground but audience in the brand new IPIC Arena witnessed a completely different fight.
Although Ribeiro had the crowd behind him and received the biggest ovation among all Warriors, that didn’t bother Wallhead too much. ″I was very excited about coming to the UAE, it is somewhere I have always wanted to fight, so I was looking forward to the opportunity. I absolutely felt the support for him, but I am a veteran, I have fought many times around the world against local heroes. I just embraced the boos of the crowd and did my job.″
They both went in full strength from the beginning and with that kind of intensity a fight rarely goes to distance. Wallhead quickly gained advantaged and forced his style upon his opponent. It took him only 3 minutes to activate that powerful right hand of his and catapult Ribeiro outside of the ring! It was move of the night, KO of the night and a highlight worth watching multiple times. You can enjoy it in the unique AD Warriors highlights video (link) that we prepared for you.
″I was very happy afterwards, it was a great knockout, it's what I had planned to do. I knew it would be the right hand to do the job and of course the bonus was much appreciated.″
Wallhead took the ″KO of the night″ honours, deservingly so. It was truly a spectacular moment for the AD Warriors and a promise of a bright future for the organization. Jimmy Wallhead might be a big part of it when we return to next ADW and if he continues like that he might be one of the frontrunners for the divisional throne.
″I’m coming back 100%, no doubt! ADW 2 was such an amazing experience, the organization looked after me very well. I really enjoyed the whole week there and there is nothing stopping me, I’ll be back.″