Featherweight Jeremy Kennedy had a debut to remember for Brave Combat Federation as he viciously knocked out Italian Danyel Pilò in the co-main event of Brave 14, which took place in Tangier, Morocco, this Saturday. The Canadian prospect showed composure and power as he dropped Danyel Pilò and worked from top position landing elbows from half-guard and putting his Italian opponent to sleep.
The ending came with little over two minutes and it marked Kennedy’s first finish in four years. “JBC” credits his newfound aggressiveness to the move to Xtreme Couture and says he feels at home with Brave.
“These guys at Xtreme Couture have saved my life. I’m meaner than ever and I’m coming for that Featherweight belt. I know Elias (Boudegzdame, 145 lbs champion) is defending his title in Abu Dhabi, but that should have been me. I’m very happy to be a Brave fighter. This is an organization that puts fighters first. They are going all over the place, breaking new ground and taking MMA everywhere. I want to fight for that title and I want to keep busy, I’m the man to beat at Featherweight now”, claimed a very animated Kennedy.
In the main event, Lightweight champion Ottman Azaitar had an emotional homecoming. Fighting at Welterweight, the Moroccan hero gave his loud fans a great performance as he knocked out Danijel Kokora in 32 seconds, making it the second-fastest KO in Brave history – first place was acquired by Djamil Chan earlier in the evening. In total, seven out of nine bouts ended in first-round knockouts.
After the fight, Azaitar admitted to feeling nervous beforehand due to the fact that it was the first time he was headlining a world-class show in front of his home crowd and opened the door for a title unification bout against interim champion Lucas Mineiro.
Record and title fight set
Making his Brave debut after two years away from the sport, Velimurad Alkhasov had some trouble to figure out Sean Santella, but was able to eventually dominate with his wrestling en route to a unanimous decision nod. After the fight, it was announced that the Russian will take on Brazilian knockout artist Marcel Adur for the inaugural Brave Flyweight championship in his next fight.
Meanwhile, Dutch striker Djamil Chan had a debut to remember as he became the record-holder for fastest KO in Brave history. “Dynamite” only needed 29 seconds to finish former title challenger Alejandro “Pato” Martínez and put the Lightweight division on notice.
Main Card
-Ottman Azaitar defeated Danijel Kokora by KO (Round 1 – 0:32)
-Jeremy Kennedy defeated Danyel Pilo by KO (Round 1 – 2:02)
-Abdoul Abdoulraguimov defeated Sidney Wheeler by TKO (Round 1 – 3:20)
-Felipe Efrain defeated Arnold Quero by KO (Round 1 – 0:40)
-Velimurad Alkhasov defeated Sean Santella by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
-Ikram Aliskerov defeated Joey Berkenbosch by TKO (Round 1 – 02:15)
Preliminary Bouts
-Jeremy Pacatiw defeated Keith Lee by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
-Artur Guseynov defeated Tarek Suleiman by TKO (Round 1 – 04:43)
-Djamil Chan defeated Pato Martinez by knockout (Round 1 – 0:29)
