Tiger Shroff, Disha Patani and Shikhar Dhawan grace MFN 12, India's biggest fight night

The MFN 12 fight card went down at the Noida Indoor Stadium, NCR, on Sunday, 1st July. Run by mother-daughter duo Ayesha and Krishna Shroff, the promotion, which is arguably the largest in the country, delivered as expected by roping in fighters from Tajikistan, Russia, and Egypt apart from Indian fighters.

Bollywood superstars Tiger Shroff, Disha Patani, and ace cricketer Shikhar Dhawan were also in attendance for the event, which goes on to speak volumes about the rising popularity of the sport in the country.

Indian MMA stalwart Angad Bisht was originally scheduled to put his flyweight title on the line against Hugo Paiva of Brazil in the main event at MFN 12. However, the card lost the huge fight a day prior as Paiva missed weight by 2 kilos (approx).

A strawweight title fight between Puja Tomar and Anastasia Feofanova of Russia was bumped up to the main-event slot as a result. Tomar, a former ONE Championship fighter, successfully retained her 115lbs strap, gradually battering her opponent en route to a fourth-round corner stoppage.

The co-main event of the night featured a featherweight clash between Mochamed Machaev of Austria and Khabibullo Azizvov of Tajikistan. The fight met ended in an anti-climactic no contest after Azivov failed to recover from a brutal unintentional low blow from Machaev in the second round.

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The MFN 12 main card summary

Digamber Singh Rawat and Neeraj Panghal met in a highly anticipated lightweight clash at MFN 12. Both highly touted prospects, the winner of the fight could certainly become a future champ in the uncrowned division. While they appeared to be evenly matched in the opening seconds, Rawat absolutely starched Panghal in the very first round in a 'coming of age' storyline.

Former Road to UFC fighter Pawan Maan Singh took on Sandeep Dahiya in a trilogy clash. Maan pulled off a unanimous decision win in a closely contested affair.

Rahul Thapa shone through against Avizo Lanamai in a clash of featherweight prospects. Thapa overcame initial adversity, using his exceptional wrestling skillset to neutralize Lanamai's lethal stand-up en route to a unanimous decision win.

Meanwhile, featherweight contender Shyamanand sent Mido Mohamed of Egypt to the shadow realm with a huge jab in the very first round at MFN 12. Having scored his fourth consecutive stoppage win, Shyamanand posted a callout to former rival and featherweight champ Sanjeet Budhwar who had handed him his lone pro loss at MFN 4 in 2020.

Surging bantamweight prospect Chungreng Koren scored a first-round TKO win over Indian MMA veteran Chaitanya Gavali in yet another dominant showing.