Bahrain becomes the epicenter of MMA at Brave 18

The Kingdom of Bahrain was the epicenter of mixed martial arts this week. BRAVE International Combat Week was host to the 2018 IMMAF-WMMAA Unified World Championships at the Khalifa Sports City Arena in Manama, a major step to MMA becoming an Olympic sport, at last. And the highlight of the week was Brave 18 which featured three title fights, or more accurately 2.5. Velimurad Alkhasov missed weight for his fight vs. Marcel Adur for the inaugural Brave flyweight championship, so he was not eligible for the belt, but won the fight due to a relentless, decisive, wrestling-heavy game.

Stephen Loman successfully defended the bantamweight belt vs. Felipe Efrain in an extraordinary fight that saw ‘The Sniper’ get stronger after his nose was broken. Bahrain is home to a large number of Filipinos, who ecstatically cheered on their champion.

And in the main event, Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady stunned Lucas Martins when he inexplicably went to a double. However, the decision proved to be brilliant, as the slam injured his opponent, and referee Marc Goddard immediately stopped the fight.

https://twitter.com/Grabaka_Hitman/status/1063545848410370049

In a night of notable bouts, Rob Emerson put on a tremendous show of heart and leg locks, before going out to a Magomedrasul Khasbulaev arm choke that had an eerily fast effect, Khamzat Chimaev beat Marko Kisic via broken jaw, Cian Cowley beat Hardeep Rai via low kicks that hit like baseball bats (it’s a cliche, but they did), and Hussain ‘Iron’ Ayyad proved to be far too much for Egypt’s Mohamed Abo Ali.

https://twitter.com/Jolassanda/status/1063492934358786053

Earlier in the night Team Akhmat fighters went 5-0, not via easy fights, but via incredibly hard ones.

And lastly, it is not possible to discuss the fight without mentioning Lenne Hardt, who brought here inimitable performance to the event, the opening ceremony of which was a brilliant homage to PRIDE.

#PrideNeverDies

I spelled it right.

All in all, it was a brilliant, historic night for mixed martial arts.

Main Card
Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady beat Lucas Martins via TKO (referee stoppage) in R1
Stephen Loman beat Felipe Efrain via unanimous decision
Velimurad Alkhasov beat Marcel Adur via unanimous decision
Hussain Ayyad beat Mohamed Abo Ali via TKO (strikes) in R1
Luan Santiago beat Djamil Chan via unanimous decision
Prelim Card
Cian Cowley beat Hardeep Rai via TKO (strikes) in R1
Khamzat Chimaev beat Marko Kisic via TKO (strikes) in R1
Rakhman Dudaev beat Joe Taimanglo via unanimous decision
Magomedrasul Khasbulaev beat Rob Emerson via submission (head and arm choke) in R2
Akhmed Shervaniev beat Antonio Carlos Ribeiro via unanimous decision
Goity Dazaev beat Vasily Kurochkin via TKO (strikes) in R3
Anzor Abdulkhozjaev beat Nikolay Kondratuk via TKO (strikes) in R1