National MMA team fighter Shirshah Mubariz defeated his South Korean rival in an Asian MMA Championship bout in Harbin city in China on Saturday.

Two mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters are representing Afghanistan at the event.

Mubariz will fight in the 70kg weight category while Sabrullah Begzad will fight in the 80kg weight category.

The three-day event started on Saturday.

Eighteen Asian countries including Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are taking part in the championships.

Free fighting champion Baz Mohammad Mubariz is head coach of the Afghan team and said: “We have selected the best amateur MMA fighters (in the country) for this event. We hope that they will return home with good achievements,” said Baz Mohammad Mubariz, the head of the MMA Federation, on Wednesday when he left Kabul for China with his team.

“Eighteen countries will attend the event. Afghanistan is also part of this tournament,” Sabrullah Begzad said.

“I am pretty sure that I will have a good achievement for the people of Afghanistan in this tournament,” said Shirshah Mubariz.