Israel’s MMA federation held the national championship finals on Tuesday night at D-ONE Arena in southern Sharon, where 14 title bouts produced 14 champions who will represent Israel at next year’s European and world championships. The event marked a major step up for the sport in Israel, with the federation using the finals to determine the country’s new national team.
The headline fight saw Yigal Danos defeat Lihua Harari for the Israeli title at 70 kg, in a rematch three years after their first meeting. In the co-main event, European U21 champion Yotam Galand won the Israeli 52 kg title by split decision after a very close fight with Tuko Khamladze.
Other major results included Leon Smitzko stopping Nadav Wachtel by technical knockout to retain the 74 kg title, Daniel Peleg defeating Ariel Zilberberg by knockout to keep his 70 kg U21 crown, and Uri Baruch successfully defending his 61 kg U21 title against Ariel Pitusi by unanimous decision. Penina Aronov beat Ruthy Rozmarin to win the 54 kg championship.
The rest of the card also crowned or confirmed champions across multiple divisions: Elial Michalov at 79 kg U21, Maor Azawi at 56 kg, Leon Susonov at 61 kg, Meir Dana at 65 kg U21, Abdallah Qian at 74 kg U21, Yosef Chaim Bezalel at 65 kg, Shlomi Vaknin at 79 kg, and Noam Atzmon at 83 kg U21. The winners will make up Israel’s squad for the continental and world events next year.
