A more experienced fighter, Pattnaik dominated the bout form the word go with his grappling tactics. A taller Mahanta used height advantage to good effect by throwing a couple of deadly kicks to the opponent`s body. But after pinning Mahanta to the mat three times, Pattnaik won the bout with his crucifix neck crank.

Mumbai fighters asserted supremacy on the second of the two-day championship, winning six out of 14 amateur bouts, which preceded the pro one. Kolkata won two bouts outright and shared the honours in one with Mumbai, while Nagaland, Delhi, Bangalore and Assam won one each.

The opening day of the two day event witnessed as many as 15 bouts, including one for women here at Utkal Karate School (UKS), which turned into a beehive of spectators, officials, volunteers and lensmen. The craze was so much that two local TV channels beamed the action live.

If that was not enough, one unregistered youngster even threatened the organisers with dire consequence if he was not given a chance to fight. The 90ft x 35ft hall proved to be too small a place for the event and the organisers had to install a big TV screen outside to jam-packed hall to show the live action.

``We tried our best to stage the event in a big indoor hall. But the hall owners did not give permission, citing security reasons,`` revealed Hari Prasad Pattanayak, the founder of host UKS. Though it was a contest for amateur fighters, the bouts turned out to be hard-fought affairs.

Satyajeet Bahubalendra of Ekta Fitness (Sundargarh) drew the loudest cheers from the crowd by becoming the only Odisha fighter to win his bout against Vikato Kiho of Combat Academy (Nagaland). In the lone women`s bout, Srushti Wankhade (Mumbai) beat Sreelakshmi Gupta (Kolkata) via unanimous decision.

Earleir on July 3, the school campus hotted up with activity as pairings were announced and fighters went through the face-off routine, a prelude to the main event, on Friday. Shrushti from Mumbai and Sreelakshmi Gupta from Kolkata, the two women in the fray, were the cynosure of all eyes when the duo got up to the stage, in front of the 16ftx16ft hexagonal fighting cage.

Sreelakshmi, a gold and silver medallist in sub-continental grappling and national kickboxing respectively, expressed confidence to win the lone women`s bout, which will feature two rounds of minutes each. Shrusti, wife of pro-fighter Sanjeeban Padwal, was equally confident to make a victorious debut in YFC, regarded as the ultimate fight.

The face-off between Odisha duo Sachin Mahanta and Biswadeb Pattnaik, who will meet each other on the opening day, also drew lot of attention. Mahanta, who has his fighting club in Keonjhar, is projected as the star of the event even though he and started his YFC campaign with a loss. On the other hand, local challenger Pattnaik boasted a better track record, which included two wins in four encounters.

Jitendra Khare, the founder of YFC, described the fourth leg of YFC as a highly successful and entertaining show. He expressed confidence that the event would helping MMA gain popularity in Odisha.

Hari Prasad Pattnayak, the founder of host Utkal Karate School said the best eight fighters from each of the four legs _ first three legs were held at Dimapur (Nagaland), Mumbai and Bangalore _ would be eligible to compete in the YFC grand finale (National championship) to be held at Mumbai.
RESULTS:
Men (All amateur): 1. Khriemelie Mehta (Combat Academy) bt Sishilal Marandi (Ekta Fitness) via TKO (1:40 secs, Rd 2); 2. Neeraj Borah (Fit & Fight Club) bt Tapas Pradhan (Puri Academy) via TKO, RTC (33s, Rd 2); 3. Vijay Gupta (Tauro Fighter Club) bt Shiihrazhiio Mao (Combat Academy) via TKO (2:47s, Rd 2); 4. Siddesh Sirgaonkar (Evolution Combat Academy) bt Nain Shahi (Talkatora Academy) vis unanimous decision; 5. Victor Angami (Combat Academy) bt Karthik M (Genesis Mysore) via TKO (Rd 1); 6. Satyajeet Bahubalendra (Ekta Fitness) bt Vikato Kiho (Combat Academy) via KO (1:15s, Rd 1); 7. Sauray Nath (Talkatora Academy) bt Ayush Tandon (Alpha Omega Combat Sports) via Tapout (1:49s, Rd 1); 8. P Satish (Everlast Brawn) bt Ali Zhargam (360 Sports) via TKo (2:37s, Rd 2); 9. Imkong Jamir (Combat Academy) bt Nidhin George (Colosseum MMA) via unanimous decision; 10. Kishan Gupta (Fit & Fight Club) bt Keshav Sardar (360 Sports) via KO (1:16s, Rd 2); 11. Khimson Tony (360 Sports) bt G Guru (Everlast Brawn) via TKO (1:25, Rd 1); 12. Suny Khatri (Evolution MMA) bt Rajesh Munda (Pankaj Fight Club) via Tapout (42s, Rd 1), 13. Clinton D`Cruz (ICSA) bt Swarup Paul (360 Sports) via TKO (2:15, Rd 1); 14. Rudolph Carvalho (Evolution MMA) bt Amjad Khan (360 Sports) via Tapout. (2:54s, Rd 3); 15. Amarjeet Singh (Mum) bt Anup Sherpa (Kol); 16. Shantanu Pujari (Mum) bt Dilip Jha (Kol); 17. Nikhil Sharma (Mum) bt Rishi Agarwal (Mum); 18. Suyash Jadhav (Mum) bt Aditya More (Mum); 19. Aditya Sank (Mum) bt Pawan Kumar (Odi); 20. Sartak (Asm) bt Ashish (Mum); 21. Kartik Sharma (Del) bt Nischal Kelamane (Mum); 22. Aleto Nagi (Nag) bt Shishpal Saini (Kol); 23. Diwash Rai (Kol) bt Tokuhu Zimomi (Nag); 24. Prakop Rai (Kol) bt Vikram Jadhav (Mum); 25. Love Bagga (Mum) bt Anil Patra (Odi); 26. Gajendra Kharat (Mum) shared honour with Md Shahnawaz (Kol); 27. Anjan Raman (Ban) bt Shibashish Banerjee (Kol).
Professional: Biswadeb Pattnaik (Odi) bt Sachin Mahanta (Odi).
Women: Srushti Wankhade (Fit &Fight Clulb) bt Sreelakshmi Gupta (Alpha Omega Combat Sports) via unanimous decision.
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TOP: Odisha pro-fighters Sachin Mahanta (L) and Biswadeb Pattnaik at the face-off stage in Bhubaneswar on July 3, 2015.
RIGHT: YFC fight between Siddesh Sirgaonkar and Nain Shahi in Bhubaneswar on July 4, 2015.