MMA – Brave Combat Federation emerged victorious last night in the battle for Asian supremacy as BRAVE CF fighters defeated their YFU counterparts 5-1 at BRAVE CF 84, held in Zhengzhou, China.
To add to that, the most global mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation in the world, born in the kingdom, extended its world record as China became the 33rd country to host BRAVE CF, with the promotion also equalling the record for most Asian nations visited with 13.
In yesterday’s main event, the only non-tournament fight of the night, Bidzina Gavashelishvili secured his second consecutive win in BRAVE CF by defeating Erasyl Shukataev after a hard-fought three-round contest.
Shukataev knocked Bidzina down twice in the first round and troubled the Georgian with his reach advantage. However, Bidzina controlled the pace in the second with precise boxing and a late takedown. He relied on his grappling and clinch skills in the third round to neutralise his Kazakh opponent and cruised to victory.
Following his win, Bidzina said that he is top contender in the flyweight division and declared his intent to pursue the title.
The co-main event of BRAVE CF 84, which headlined the BRAVE CF vs YFU portion of the card, featured a high-level technical contest between Brice Picaud and Qinghe Zhang.
Both fighters engaged in back-and-forth grappling exchanges, living up to the pre-fight expectations.
Unfortunately, the fight ended anticlimactically when Zhang suffered a knee injury after the second round, forcing the referee to call off the bout and award a TKO victory to Picaud, who wrapped up the dominant performance of BRAVE CF fighters.
Borislav Nikolic made a strong case for a bantamweight title shot by securing a first-round TKO victory over Eqiyuebu, who entered the night on a four-fight winning streak. Nikolic’s experience proved decisive as he finished the fight with elbows from the top position.
The bout between Maimaitituoheti and Izzeddine Al Derbani delivered big time, with both fighters exchanging heavy strikes from the start. Al Derbani took control midway through the first round with his kicks and quickly ended the fight by submitting his Chinese opponent with a triangle choke.
Former interim title challenger Olzhas Eskaraev delivered a dominant performance, overwhelming China’s Zehao Zhang over three rounds to secure a unanimous decision win.
Yang Weiqiang handed Bahrain’s Mohamed Alsameea his first professional MMA loss in the second fight of the night, securing the lone victory for YFU in the promotional duel.
Alsameea started out strong, using his wrestling to take advantage from the striker, but ultimately tired out and put on a valiant effort to maintain himself in the fight until the end.
The judges saw the win for Weiqiang, but Alsameea showed the entire world that he never gives up. The experience of fighting professionally abroad will be instrumental in his development as a young star in the Arab MMA world.
Kazakhstan’s Aivaz Aidinov utilised his wrestling skills to dominate Peng Zhengwen in the opening bout, securing a decision win and setting the tone for the BRAVE CF fighters.
BRAVE CF 84 was the organisation’s fourth event of the year, following shows in Slovenia, Mauritius, and the Netherlands. Next, the most global MMA organisation heads to Pakistan for BRAVE CF 85, which will be held as part of BRAVE International Combat Week in Lahore on August 18.
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