At AKO 10 Yahuza Yahaya gave a dominant performance in front of his home town Abuja crowd who were all very hyped to see him compete. His entrance was met with wild cheers and he responded to the love in kind giving a masterclass in MMA wrestling to his fans. The wrestler showed no intention of slowing down with his high pressure work rate taking Cherif Drame to deep waters showing off his versatile grappling skills.
What got the crowd’s attention however were the very powerful slams and suplexes that Yahaya made use of at every stage of the fight, really showcasing his wide variety of wrestling skills and working Cherif to the bone just to stay afloat and keep his equilibrium about him. Drame used his own Grappling defense to stay away from the worse positions and avoid possible submission attempts, however this wasn’t enough to keep him away out of “Smile Strong’s Grasp”.
What made this all the more impressive is that Yahaya gave such a dominant performance while having both a groin and knee injury. As he stated in the post fight interview, he had injured himself 2 weeks leading up to the fight. But not wanting to disappoint the fans, he didn’t pull out of the fight and showed a warrior’s spirit fighting through the pain and injuries to come out with a very emphatic unanimous decision to the home town crowd and he made a call out for the AKO’s middleweight crown.
The road is by no means an easy one as the AKO’s middleweight division is full of strong talents that will certainly be looking to derail his momentum and take his spot. But if Saturday’s performance is any indicator, clearly he’s up to the task to mix it with the best of the best
As for what’s next for him? He will likely be getting surgery for his injuries and go through rehab and physical therapy before we see him back in the cage where he will be at 100% and hopefully facing off against one of the other strong contenders for the Middleweight title.
