The PFL Championships card started strong on Friday morning from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with three finishes and a fun fight between contenders that went to a decision, but the first title fight of the PFL MENA Championships was a letdown at lightweight.
However, Ali Taleb rewarded fans who tuned in for his preliminary card fight as he came all the way from Sweden to knock out Spaniard Rachid Haz in just over a minute.
WHAT A KNOCKOUT.
Ali Taleb 🇸🇪🇮🇶(12-1) gets it done in one with a vicious KO to win the PFL MENA Bantamweight Championship and $100K 💰#PFLWorldChampionshippic.twitter.com/dy977jTHSt
— COMBAT SPORTS TODAY (@CSTodayNews) November 29, 2024
Taleb has shown high-level abilities for his 27 years of age, going 4-1 in 5 PFL fights. Yet his best win came in UAE Warriors when he dethroned bantamweight champion – now UFC contender – Vinicius ‘LokDog’ Oliveira.Â
With a win like that under his belt, Taleb was one of the highest rated fighters in the PFL MENA bantamweight division in its inaugural season.
Fans in the West may still not have known him but they certainly will now. The crisp boxing and killer instinct he displayed in the build up to the finish were incredible, but the highlight reel of the single punch will boost his name-power significantly, as will doing it on the biggest PFL card of the season.Â
— Combate (@combate) November 29, 2024
For his first fight which was promoted widely in the West (this first PFL MENA season was not consistently viewable in North America), Taleb certainly made the most of his moment.
Being a bantamweight with knockout power will make him extra marketable, as the 135-lb division is globally the best weight class in the sport but smaller fighters often last one-punch power. Not so with Taleb.
As PFL looks to potentially add a bantamweight division to their mainline season, Taleb’s highlight reel in Riyadh will make him a shoe-in to enter it if that possibility comes to fruition in 2025.Â
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