Yuki Angdembe, representing Nepal, was too swift at the Matrix Fight Night-18 at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Indoor Sports Complex in Greater Noida, India, on Saturday night.

Born in Nepal, raised in the UK and fighting out of SOMA Fight Club in Bali, Indonesia, Angdembe defeated Mandeep Prajapati, one of India’s biggest fan favourites who goes by the moniker ‘Baaghi’, in the very first round.

Angdembe, who goes by the name ‘The Gurkha’ in the sport, silenced the majority of Indian fans with 2 minutes and 15 seconds left in the first of the three rounds when Herb Dean, a world-renowned referee, announced the end of the fight. Each round was five minutes.

Prajapati, who now holds a pro-MMA record of 4-2-1 after the loss, was beaten in his own forte by 27-year-old Angdembe in the bantamweight division.

Baaghi is well-known for his grappling. And believing it was not enough against Angdembe, Prajapati trained his punches and kicks for three months in Thailand before the bout.

Meanwhile, Prajapati did not get enough time to show his punches and kicks. He did start with punches and kicks, to which Angdembe responded properly.

But after a minute, Prajapati was back to his best move: grappling. He got Angdembe on the floor, but it did not go in his favour.

“I know he will come for the grappling, but I will be ready,” Angdembe had said in his fight’s introduction video by the Matrix Fight Night (MFN). “Let’s see you try.”

And as Angdembe had said, he was over Prajapati in no time. Angdembe then tried D’Arce choke. Once he was set and knew it was over for Prajapati, Angdembe made a shout to announce his win. Within seconds, Dean declared the fight was over by submission.

Nepal’s flag was then thrown inside the cage, which Angdembe grabbed and started running around and thanked the Nepali fans who had reached the venue to support him. He later had a dhaka topi on his head too.

There were a good number of Nepali supporters, with Nepal’s flags, shouting and cheering for Angdembe, which was heard properly after the home fans were silenced.

“I am not easy, I just look good,” Angdembe said after the win, with Diwiz Piya behind, clapping and celebrating.

There was also a surge of thousands of live viewers, from a couple of thousand to 19,000, for the event on YouTube when Angdembe’s fight was about to begin. There also seemed to be only Nepali fans watching the fight before Angdembe’s fight, since there were only Nepali fans active on the chat section.

Talking to the Post a few days ago, Piya, who is the coach of Rabindra Dhant, who won the bantamweight title at MFN-17 last year, said that he was quite confident that Angdembe would win. “He is our man,” Piya had said.

It was Angdembe’s second win at the MFN. He had defeated Indian fighter Mohammad Mahmoudian at MFN-13 on October 28, 2023. Mahmoudian had also gone down by submission.

Angdembe’s professional record is now 8-3.