The kickboxer from the Hague gym ARJ Gym initially seemed to lose out to crowd favorite Bahram Rajabzadeh. “That’s right,” 33-year-old Khbabez responded after his match. “Apparently I always have to wake up in the first round. Good thing I got a blow that I didn’t see coming. Then I was awake.”
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After that first round the game looked completely different. Rajabzadeh actually seemed frantic and took many blows almost humbly. In the third round both men showed no signs of showing off, after which the fight turned into a battle of attrition. And every time the rapturous crowd thought one of the fighters was breathing his last, they both stood back up. That is why the jury had to be involved to select a winner.
Lost world title
Khbabez had previously lost his world title to Sergei Masloboyev, but he was eventually caught for doping. The resident of The Hague did not care about that. “Doping or no doping, I no longer feel like a champion. I underestimated that party.”
On Saturday evening he did it on his own. “I never left,” Khbabez beamed. “I have a lot of respect for Bahram, but this is fantastic what is happening to me now.”