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Luke Littler fell to his first defeat since winning his second PDC World Darts Championship earlier this month, falling at the quarter-final of the Bahrain Darts Masters. Gerwyn Price, a former world champion in his own right, took down 'The Nuke', stunning him with a 6-2 win in the opening match of the evening.

It brings an end to Littler's impressive winning streak, having kept up a run since October 2025, with his last defeat coming against Canadian Matt Campbell. That was a loss in a World Players Championship event, where he made it to the third round before a surprise exit.

It means Littler waves farewell to a potential £30,000 prize pot on offer to the winner of the Bahrain Darts Masters, out of an overall £100,000 prize pot. The world number one cruised past Paul Lim in the first round on Thursday night, registering a 6-1 victory against the 71-year-old.

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That win was accompanied by some new darts on display, with the 18-year-old spotted throwing a set with a fresh pattern. After signing a huge deal with Target Darts, Littler was spotted some arrows that included a nuke symbol engraved on them, sparking interest from fans online.

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While those new darts helped him past the first round, the world champion seemed a little less convinced with them early on against Price on Friday afternoon. After a slow start and an early break of throw, he quickly went to his table and switched back to a more traditional setup.

That didn't help him get back into the match, though, as Price made him pay with some fantastic darts on display. The Welshman kept up a scoring pace with a 97.4 average, but was particularly punishing when it came to the doubles, walking away with a 60% success rate on the outer ring.

It was a much-needed win for Price, who endured a difficult 2025 at the oche, which continued into the PDC World Darts Championship. The 40-year-old made a surprise exit at Alexandra Palace, when he lost to Dutchman Wesley Plaisier in the second round of the competition.

Despite those challenges, he still got an invitation to the 2026 Premier League line-up, which features some of the world's best coming up against each other each week. The win over Littler will certainly bring some confidence for 'The Iceman' that his fortunes can turn back around.

Speaking before his return to Bahrain, Price revealed he had taken a slight break from darts, as he said: "I haven’t thrown a dart for many days since I obviously lost at the Worlds. I actually had a week’s holiday. I did take a travel board with me, but it didn’t go on the wall, so I probably should have had a practice.”

That hasn't seemingly impacted his game that much, with a huge opportunity ahead of him to build some momentum in Bahrain. He will take on Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final, with a real opportunity of landing the golden palm tree trophy and an extra £30,000.

For Littler, there isn't much of a wait for him to be back in action, as he will return with the Saudi Arabian Darts Masters just next week. That takes place on the 19th and 20th of January, as 14 of the 16 players from Bahrain return for another opportunity to land £30,000.

The two Bahrain contestants, Abdulla Saeed and Basem Mahmood, will be replaced by representatives from the Asian tour, with Paolo Nebrida and Tomoya Goto taking their place. There is a slight twist when it comes to the prize money available to players, however.

There will be an introduction of a ten-darter, where a nine-darter that lands $100,000 (£74,700) can be doubled to $200,000 (£152,000) if a bullseye is hit after the final double lands - which is called a Golden Bull. No player managed a nine-darter over the World Championship, but there is an extra incentive this time for players to do so.