It is worth saying a few words about the rating duel which was on the opening, where Ilya Izman and Mirtaleh Aslanov pulled. Ilya in this meeting was in the role of a catch-up, and after the first fight, where Aslanov literally pinned the Ukrainian’s hand to the pillow, it seemed that there was no chance of winning. But Izman did not even give up and showed the highest skill to use every, even the most insignificant opportunity. As a result, Ilya was able to snatch victory in fouls in the second and fourth round, while Aslanov himself is injured in the pectoral muscle, and in subsequent rounds he can no longer fully fight. That's what it means to never give up and win with an obviously minimal chance. Bravo Ilya!

The first pair of Top-8 was Evgeniy Prudnik vs Rustam Babaev. Rustam was in the group of champions and was the nominal favorite, although many experts gave the victory with a minimum margin to Evgeniy, so it could be considered that they were equal opponents, and their fight was definitely the most expected. But Prudnik presented us his new version, he went to a qualitatively new level, in fact, he controlled the entire match. Although we should pay tribute to Rustam, in the first three fights no one could say for certain what the result would be. Rustam was close, but, as the experts said, Prudnik was more enduring, and with each subsequent fight he dominated more and more, until in the 6th round he gained total control. Outcome: 6-0 in favor of Evgeniy Prudnik.

Dmitry Trubin and Vitaly Laletin met in the second armfight. And again, it seemed that the rivals were fairly equal to each other, But Vitaly did the impossible, he brought such a form that he did not leave any chance to Dmitry. The only thing that Trubin could do was to try to go toproll without straps.

And he did it well, but alas, each time this led to slip, and after the straps Dmitry had no chance. As a result: 6-0 in favor of Vitaly Laletin, and this is a very big bid to get to the final of the tournament.

The third pair was, perhaps, the least interesting to the audience from the beginning, since Alex is a fairly new athlete in the professional arena, and for Kydygarli this is the first armfight in his career. But it was the best match of the evening! The classic confrontation of David and Goliath. Kurdecha weighed almost 1.5 times more than Ongarbayev, and despite the weight, despite the size, the Kazakh wrestler stopped the Polish giant in each round. And even though the score was 5-1 in favor of Ongarbayev, as a result of the meeting in absolutely every fight it was war! Alex had a very good toproll, and every fight, right down to the last, he literally ate an opponent’s hand, thereby gaining a tactical advantage, but he could not realize it. Ongarbaev endured each round, gritting his teeth, waiting, and as soon as the opportunity appeared, he won. This duel is definitely worth reviewing!

The final meeting was between Levan Saginashvili and Tim Bresnan. Alas, the miracle did not happen. Levan predictably won a landslide victory. He was stronger, but Tim tried his best, and in the last round he even tried to drastically change the angle of attack and strike Levan’s wrist, but the difference between the athletes was too great. Outcome: 6-0 in favor of the Georgian armwrestler.

According to the results of the first stage, Prudnik, Laletin, Ongarbayev and Saginashvili will compete for positions 1-4, and Babaev, Trubin, Kurdecha and Bresnan - for 5-8. Participants will have another draw and the second stage, which will be held in July and August of this year. And the viewers are waiting for even more interesting fights!