Karate Combat is a unique fighting promotion that has gained a lot of notoriety in the past few years. Recently the promotion held Karate Combat 45 in Dubai and the event featured a lot of great fighters and an interesting country vs country gimmick. In the main event of the card, former UFC middleweight Luke Rockhold made his much-anticipated return to fighting as well.
In the undercard, team Pakistan also faced off against team India in an innovative team vs. team combination. Team India was represented by Rana Singh, Himanshu Kaushik, and Pawan Gupta. On the other hand, Team Pakistan was represented by Shahzaib Rind, Uloomi Karim, and Rizwan Ali. Other than that, Luiz Rocha took on Myrza-Bek TeBuev in a double champ fight. So let’s find out how the bouts played out.
Karate Combat 45: results
Luke Rockhold vs. Joe Schilling: Rockhold via third-round KO.
Luiz Rocha vs. Myrza-Bek TeBuev: TeBuev won via first-round KO.
Eddie Farrell vs. Raymond Daniels: Daniels won via unanimous decision.
Tananut Johphromma vs. Saidyokub Kakhramonov: Kakhramonov won via first-round TKO.
Rana Singh vs. Shazaib Rindh: Rindh won via first-round TKO.
Himanshu Kaushik vs. Faizan Khan: Kaushik won via unanimous decision.
Pawan Gupta vs. Rizwan Ali: Ali won via first-round KO.
Adam Noi vs. Ali Motamed: Noi won via unanimous decision.
Huang Shuai Lu vs. Ali Zarinfar: Zarinfar via first-round KO.
Luke Rockhold comments on his win against Joe Schilling
Luke Rockhold hasn’t had the best time in the fighting arenas recently. His last UFC fight came in 2022 against Paulo Costa. The bout ended with the Brazilian winning via unanimous decision. Prior to that, he had also lost to Jan Blachowicz and Yoel Romero. After the UFC 278 loss against Costa, Rockhold also announced that he’d be walking away from fighting. However, the 39-year-old ultimately broke his retirement and fought Mike Perry in April 2023.
LUKE ROCKHOLD KNOCKOUT IN BIG 2024 AT @KarateCombat pic.twitter.com/rcON65r0VO
— OOC MMA (@oocmma) April 20, 2024
But, it did not go well for him as Perry won the contest via TKO. Hence, Luke had a point to prove at Karate Combat 45 and he did so in style. He got the job done via TKO at the 1:43-minute mark of the third round. After the bout, the California native commented on his first win since 2017.
Rockhold revealed that he had an infection before the fight and still got the job done. He further added, “Just getting my feet wet, man. Just trying to get back in the game. This is great right here. It’s an interesting place. F***, bare-knuckle to this, walking into new arenas — you’ve got to test yourself in different ways, man. Never get too comfortable.”
Team Pakistan beats Team India at Karate Kombat 45
For the uninitiated, India and Pakistan have had a historical rivalry. From soccer to hockey to Cricket, the sports teams from respective countries have always had heated and competitive matches. Hence, fans were expecting the same from Karate Combat 45. It certainly did not disappoint as the fighters involved put on an excellent display for the fans in attendance in Dubai.
Shahzaib Rind is just unstoppable inside the pit!
Pakistan beats India 2-1 with this victory, but wait til you hear what Rind had to say in his post fight interview… #KC45 | Live Now | #FreeOnYoutube pic.twitter.com/azbMYIJIOP
— Karate Combat (@KarateCombat) April 20, 2024
In the first fight of the 3-fight series, Rizwan Ali got the best of Pawan Gupta as he got the win via KO at the 2:37-minute mark of round 1. But, team India got back into the scheme of things and leveled the series 1-1 as Himanshu Kaushik beat Faizan Khab via a unanimous decision. But, in the final bout, Shazaib Rindh clinched the victory against Rana Singh and won Pakistan the Karate Combat 45 series 2-1.