Paddy Pimblett’s teammate hits rival after bell to spark wild scenes at UFC London

Shem Rock tasted his second consecutive UFC defeat in London on Saturday night.

Rock, who trains with Paddy Pimblett at Next Gen MMA in Liverpool, went to war with Palestinian fighter Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady on the preliminary card of UFC London, suffering a unanimous decision after three rounds.

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Both men landed heavy blows throughout the 15-minute fight, but Al-Selwady got the better of his Liverpudlian opponent on the feet to claim a deserved points victory.

Having lost to Nurullo Aliev on his UFC debut in Qatar four months ago, Rock now slips to two defeats in Dana White‘s promotion.

Nasty scenes unfolded in the aftermath of the fight as Rock approached his opponent and landed a soft dig, which unsurprisingly angered Al-Selwady.

However, security were quick to intervene to separate the lightweight fighters, with both men eventually showing respect to one another moments later.

What happened in Rock vs Al-Selwady?

Al-Selwady landed a heavy leg kick early in the opening round, while Rock, the taller man, established his range.

‘The Pride of Palestine’, who was very bouncy on his feet throughout the fight, was briefly stunned but responded brilliantly to drop Rock for the first knockdown of the fight.

Al-Selwady went for the finish and managed to drag Rock to the canvas moments later, but the latter reversed in what was a very closely contested round one.

Both men landed early in the second round, but it was Al-Selwady who found his momentum first.

Rock was forced to engage in the clinch but couldn’t get his opponent to the canvas as his face began leaking blood.

The Liverpudlian landed a beautiful front kick up the middle, with his corner telling him constantly to work more.

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Rock eventually found his takedown, but Al-Selwady managed to make it straight back to his feet.

Al-Selwady was still as energetic in the final round as he was in the first, with Rock hesitant to throw despite his coaches telling him otherwise.

Rock’s corner, again, told him, ‘You’ve got to go!’ and this prompted him to start building.

The 32-year-old landed a well-timed head kick before connecting with a knee and fans inside London’s O2 Arena thought it was his moment.

Smiling right at his opponent as time ticked on, Rock was successful with another takedown and took Al-Selwady’s back, but he wasn’t able to land many damaging blows.

Al-Selwady reversed and landed stern blows himself on the canvas just before the final bell.

UFC London: Results

So far...

Brandon Pericic def. Louie Sutherland via TKO (punches)

Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady def. Shem Rock via unanimous decision

Shanelle Dyer def. Ravena Oliveira via second-round TKO (punches)

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The two looked exhausted upon the siren, having both put in a tremendous shift.

It was certainly a contender for the UFC’s $100,000 Fight of the Night bonus, but the UFC brass won’t be happy with Rock for engaging with Al-Selwady after the bell.

Nonetheless, Rock now heads back to the drawing board, still looking for his first triumph in the UFC.

His loss came just after Londoner Shanelle Dyer scored an epic second-round stoppage on her UFC debut to kick off the card.