BRAVE CF 45 closed the second leg of the prestigious Kombat Kingdom series last night with the main event, which pitched Colombia’s Dumar Roa against England’s Ian Entwistle, getting to an end surrounded by mystery.
Returning to the cages after a four-year absence, Entwistle was a last-minute replacement to Brazil’s Gabriel ‘Fly’ Miranda, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 before boarding to Bahrain, forcing him to be pulled from the contest.
Entwistle kicked things off showing how much he missed the thrill of professional fighting. He went for it right after the bell rang and tried to catch Roa with a right hand. They briefly clinched and the Englishman pulled guard, quickly transitioning to a heel hook.
They spent roughly three minutes scrambling back-and-forth in the position, in a highly paced, chess-like grappling exhibition. When Roa finally managed to take the top position, getting away from the hook and surviving several near-submission situations, Entwistle tapped, surprising everyone.
It was clear by the images that ‘Enty’ injured himself while trying to submit Roa, and it was later confirmed by the doctors that he had blown out his knee, but the exact nature of the injury and how it happened remains uncertain. The only thing for sure is that Dumar Roa won his second consecutive BRAVE CF bout in Bahrain, where he seems to feel at home.
Dumar also shared his thoughts on the unique situation he saw himself in, prior to the bout. The Colombian went to Mexico for a one-week training camp but ended up stuck in the country for months, due to the developing Covid-19 pandemic.
In the much anticipated light heavyweight co-main event of the evening Switzerland’s Mohamed Said Maalem set a stop for his opponent’s Zvonomir Kralj hype with a vicious first-round knockout.
But that wasn’t the scenario right after the bell ringing. During the first minutes it seemed that Zvonomir was on his way to yet another victory inside the BRAVE CF. With a high pace and devastating low kicks, ‘The Croatian Sensation’ was the aggressor initially.
But it all changed halfway through the round. Maleem turned the situation around, got a powerful knockdown and, like a shark, smelling blood, went for the finish, forcing the referee to stop the contest with a little more than a minute left on the clock.
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