Ali Zarinfar: Iran’s medalist on Cambodia’s major cards Ali Zarinfar៖ ម្ចាស់មេដាយអ៊ីរ៉ង់លើសង្វៀនធំៗនៅកម្ពុជា

English

An Iranian competitor with a genuine Cambodian connection

Ali Zarinfar is not simply a foreign name added to an international poster. In February 2026 he reached an ISKA Kun Khmer tournament final in Kampong Speu against Hong Sovanchansothy. In October he defeated Som Vichai on the Fight Clubbing card at Angkor. Those appearances connect an Iranian athlete with two important Cambodian stages, but they were not contested under identical rules. The first was Kun Khmer; the second carried an IPCC world K-1 title.

The World Games athlete information service identifies Zarinfar as an Iranian participant born on 3 April 1992. His 2017 entry was in men’s Muay Thai at 63.5 kilograms. Later official sources place him in several weight and competition settings. It would be inaccurate to choose one of those historical numbers and call it his permanent division, or to merge amateur medals, professional titles and promotion-specific records into a single undated total.

The 2017 medals that established international credentials

IFMA’s retrospective on the 2017 World Games confirms Zarinfar’s silver medal at 63.5 kilograms in Wroclaw. It also carries his reflection on reaching the final and missing gold. This is a significant early international marker because it identifies the competition, country represented and division. The medal is a Muay Thai achievement within a multisport event; it should not be rewritten as a professional Kun Khmer championship.

Later in 2017, IFMA reported his gold at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in the 60-kilogram category, against Thailand’s Prawit Chilnak. The report’s publication date is not treated here as proof of the exact day of that final. Together, the two medals establish a documented international amateur background at different weights. They offer context for his later selection on professional cards without establishing a universal ranking above athletes competing through other systems.

A career across rules, not one interchangeable record

Zarinfar also appears on Karate Combat’s official athlete page. The promotion records a technical-knockout win over Shuailu Huang in April 2024, a unanimous-decision victory over Panja Manseng, displayed with the ring name Mardsing Khaolakmuaythai, in November 2024, and a unanimous-decision loss to Adam Noi in May 2025. These results are useful precisely because their scope is explicit. They belong to Karate Combat, not to a Kun Khmer career tally.

Verified reference table

Kampong Speu: an official Kun Khmer final

ISKA’s report fixes the event in Kampong Speu on 21 February 2026 and identifies Hong Sovanchansothy as the unanimous-decision winner over Zarinfar. The contest was the final of a four-man lightweight tournament for an ISKA Kun Khmer Intercontinental championship at 61 kilograms. That is direct evidence of Zarinfar facing a Cambodian opponent under Kun Khmer rules, rather than an assumption based on the location or the sponsor’s name.

The inspected report does not name his earlier tournament opponent or give a complete bracket. A finalist necessarily reached the final stage, but that does not authorise reconstructing an unseen semifinal, its method or its duration. The useful analysis is the confirmed competitive level: Zarinfar was part of a championship tournament, and the decisive meeting ended on the judges’ unanimous verdict. No round-by-round story is added in the absence of a reliable account.

Angkor: a different championship under K-1 rules

At Fight Clubbing 44 on 18 October 2026, the official card names Zarinfar as the winner against Som Vichai at 63.5 kilograms. It explicitly labels their contest an IPCC World Championship K-1 bout scheduled over three three-minute rounds. Fresh News subsequently reports the decision victory. The event took place in front of the Terrace of the Elephants at Angkor Thom, making the setting culturally distinctive without changing the discipline of the individual match.

This distinction prevents a common error: calling every contest on a large Cambodian mixed card Kun Khmer. Zarinfar’s win is a genuine achievement against a Cambodian fighter, and the title can be stated clearly as K-1. His February appearance supplies the separate Kun Khmer connection. The two results together show his participation across the Cambodian international programme; they do not prove that the same techniques, scoring interpretation or clinch allowances applied in both contests.

How to read the changing weights and records

The verified history includes 60 kilograms at the Asian Indoor Games, 63.5 at the World Games and Angkor, and 61 in the Kampong Speu final. Those are event-specific categories separated by years. They are not evidence of a particular weight-cutting practice, and no such practice is prescribed here. Likewise, Karate Combat’s displayed two-win, one-loss tally is limited to that promotion. The larger record advertised on the Angkor card is not adopted as an independently audited career total.

• Keep the Iranian athlete’s Latin spelling consistent across profiles and event cards.
• Separate amateur medals from professional title contests.
• Attach every result to its actual ruleset and date.
• Leave an unverified gym, coach or semifinal opponent unspecified.

Zarinfar’s place in a Kun Khmer database is therefore both clear and nuanced. He is an internationally experienced Iranian competitor who has faced Cambodian opposition on a verified Kun Khmer championship stage and later won a separate K-1 title at Angkor. This record gives supporters a reliable way to follow the visitor’s career while recognising the distinct sporting achievements on both sides of the ring.