On Friday (June 24), a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter from Afghanistan brutally attacked Indian MMA star Srikant Sekhar outside the ring at the Matrix Fight Night 9 event in New Delhi along with a mob of his supporters. The accused has been identified as Abdul Badakshi Abdul Azim Badakshi. As per reports, Srikant sustained grave injuries during the attack including a broken jaw.
The attack happened after a fight between Seth Rosario and Badakshi where Badakshi lost, upsetting his Afghan supporters.
In a video that has now come to light, it could be seen how Badakshi and a mob of his supporters gheraoed the Indian MMA star and assaulted him.
In a tweet on Tuesday (June 28), MMA talk show expert Pravin Dabas revealed that the Afghan star had attempted to murder Srikant and is now planning to flee the country. He had also informed that Badakshi held an Indian passport as well as an Afghanistan passport.
Neeraj Goyat, a pro-boxer, had also shared the medical report of injured Srikant Sekhar. He tweeted, “Now he is about to fly back to Afghanistan. I urge Indian police and Indian government that strict legal action should be taken against him and arrest him as soon as possible.”
As per a report in India Today, Afghan MMA stars have been banned permanently from India in the aftermath of the incident by the Matrix Fight Night promotion.
According to Srikant Sekhar, bottles were chucked at him by Afghan fans and Badakshi had punched him from behind. He had filed a First Information Report (FIR) against his Afghan counterpart.
“I started cheering for Seth Rosario as he was getting the finish and someone from the crowd threw garbage at me and were showing middle fingers at me, and mocking me,” Srikant said during a conversation with Locker Room.
“I got pissed on this bunch and told them f**k you and flipped back. Then one official caught my hand and was taking me out of the cage side. He said get out of here, this crowd is getting mad at you and started escorting me out of the ringside,” he added.
Srikant Shekhar concluded, “I was going out with him and out of nowhere, I got sucker-punched by Abdul Badakshi from behind. I didn’t even see him coming, and neither I knew where he was. He hit me twice and I fell down. As I was on the floor, I saw officials pushing him and covering me up. Then the crowd broke into the arena and starts stomping me.”
Following the incident, Ayesha Shroff, part of the core team of Matrix Fight Night 9 event, commented that no Afghan fighter will ever feature at the event again.