ABU DHABI: Some of the world’s best grapplers and jiu-jitsu athletes participated this past weekend in the ADXC 4 championships at the Dojo de Paris in France.

The Grappling Main Event at the fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship featured the long-awaited duel between UFC powerhouses Benoit Saint Denis and Marc Diakiese go the way of the home favorite.

Fighting in his homeland, Saint Denis used his grappling prowess to emerge victorious in the ADXC cage. Saint Denis almost submitted England’s Diakiese in the first round, but the latter managed to survive to go five rounds.

Norway’s Espen Mathiesen is now a two-time ADXC champion after defeating France’s Leon Larman in the Jiu-Jitsu Main Event. The Norwegian athlete played to his strength and defeated his opponent with a collar choke in the first round.

In the Grappling Co-Main Event, Wales’ Ffion Davies beat her opponent Morgan Black in the second round with an armbar, after intense pressure in the first round.

In the Jiu-Jitsu Co-Main Event, Khaled Al-Shehhi and Leonardo Mario found themselves evenly matched over the five rounds of three minutes each. Al-Shehhi started with a takedown, followed with a submission attempt and, when that did not work, used the single-leg to press Leonardo against the cage wall.

Mario applied pressure on Al-Shehhi’s guard, but the UAE powerhouse had a better run in the duel, using his technique to attack on top and even reach the side. Ultimately, Al-Shehhi did enough to convince the majority of the referees and won with a split decision.

In another matchup between MMA athletes, Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady controlled Amin Youb throughout the first two rounds, even managing to mount in the third. Youb attempted to attack with a guillotine, but Al-Selwady managed to avoid the danger and convinced the referees, who unanimously decided in favor of the “Pride of Palestine.”

In a well-balanced fight between purple belts, the UAE’s Shamma Al-Kalbani took on Lina Grosset of France. The first round saw both athletes exchanging foot attacks while the following one brought a little more movement, with reversals and guard-passing attempts. The third and final round saw Grosset putting on pressure from the top, but Al-Kalbani dished out some sneaky attacks and won via split decision.

ADXC 4 results:

Main Event: Benoit Saint Denis defeated Marc Diakiese via unanimous decision.

Espen Mathiesen defeated Leon Larman via collar choke.

Co-Main Event: Ffion Davies defeated Morgan Black via armbar.

Khaled Al-Shehhi defeated Leonardo Mario via split decision.

Main Card

Abdul-Kareem Al-Sewady defeated Amin Youb via unanimous decision.

Cassio Silva defeated Marko Oikarainen via unanimous decision.

Nathiely de Jesus defeated Elizabeth Mitrovic via unanimous decision.

Nia Blackman defeated Magdalena Loska via split decision.

Steven Ray defeated Ibrahima Mane via guillotine.

Preliminary Card

Youness Bennouali defeated Florian Bayili via split decision.

Geo Martinez defeated Nicolas Renier via heel hook.

Kalim Mastouri defeated Luca Anacoreta via unanimous decision.

Kasper Larsen defeated Alexander Alexandrov via rear-naked choke.

Shamma Al-Kalbani defeated Lina Grosset via split decision.

LOS ANGELES: The Minnesota Timberwolves erased a 20-point deficit to stun Denver 98-90, knocking the defending NBA champions out of the playoffs Sunday as Indiana ousted the New York Knicks.

Karl-Anthony Towns scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Jaden McDaniels added 23 points and Anthony Edwards hit his stride late as the Timberwolves became the first team to come back from a halftime deficit of more than 11 points to win a Game 7.

The Pacers connected on an NBA playoff record 67.1 percent of their shots — making 53 of their 79 attempts from the floor — in a 130-109 Game 7 triumph over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Edwards, who has emerged as a star for the Timberwolves at 22, said poise was the key to Minnesota’s latest unlikely victory over three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.

Down by 15 at halftime, Minnesota trailed by 20 early in the third. But Denver went cold as Edwards found his range and the Timberwolves cut the deficit to one point going into the fourth quarter.

Edwards, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, said coach Chris Finch told him at the break to “play quicker.”

“If they’re going to continue to trap you, you got to make the right play and trust your teammates,” Edwards said. “We was just poised throughout the entire game. We just fought, fought.

“And KAT played spectacular tonight,” Edwards added of Towns. “He carried us tonight.”

Minnesota had pulled within one point going into the fourth quarter and took the lead for good on Rudy Gobert’s driving layup in the first minute of the final period.

Jokic scored 14 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter. He added 19 rebounds and seven assists and Jamal Murray scored 35 points but both said the Nuggets just missed too many shots.

“I felt like we got the shots we wanted and the opportunities were there,” Murray said.

The Timberwolves, who had rocked the Nuggets with two wins in Denver to open the series before dropping three straight games, closed it out with a blowout Game 6 win and their final comeback triumph.

“It’s a special moment,” Finch said. “This is a hell of a team with the best player on the planet. The series was wild, and this game was just a microcosm of the series.”

Minnesota will play the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals while the Pacers booked an Eastern Conference finals showdown with the top-seeded Boston Celtics.

Tyrese Haliburton scored 26 points while Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard added 20 apiece as six Pacers players scored in double figures.

Donte DiVincenzo made nine three-pointers on the way to 39 points for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson scored 17 and handed out nine assists before departing with a broken left hand at the start of the fourth quarter — a final injury blow for the ravaged Knicks.

The Pacers broke through for their first road win of the series with a breathtaking offensive display in the first half, when they made 29 of their 38 shots for a 76.3 shooting percentage.

The Knicks cut a 15-point halftime deficit to six early in the third, but the Pacers had all the answers.

“Just a great game overall, top to bottom for us,” Haliburton said. “We hadn’t won on the road all series — we just found a way.”

The Knicks, chasing a first Eastern Conference finals berth since 2000, hurt their own cause with two costly turnovers on inbounds plays and the Pacers quickly pushed the lead back to 19 points.

The Knicks had hoped for a boost from forward OG Anunoby, who returned to the starting lineup after missing four games with a hamstring injury.

But Anunoby was clearly limited and departed in the first quarter as hurting teammate Josh Hart soldiered on despite an abdominal strain.

“Guys gave everything they had, and that’s all you could ask,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who was without Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic for the playoffs.

“It was a battle all year and there was nothing left to give at the end.”