JZ Cavalcante to fight in Brazil for the 1st time at Brave 11

Brazilian lightweight Gesias Cavalcante is one of the most experienced fighters in the sport. Across 14 years and 35 fight, ‘JZ’ has fought in the UK and the USA, Japan and China, Europe and the Middle East. But he never fought in Brazil.

Now in a sign of the truly international scope of mixed martial arts, JZ will fight in Brazil, for Bahrain’s surging Brave Combat Federation. Cavalcante will make his second Brave CF appearance at Brave 11, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on April 13. The MMA pioneer will take on Erivan Pereira, promotional officials announced today after an initial report by leading Brazilian website Ag. Fight.

After a hard-fought loss against Alan Omer in his Brave debut back in November of last year, JZ will try to bounce back against the dangerous Negao, who is coming off a four-fight win streak, and has lost only once in his entire career. However, the veteran isn’t fazed at his opponent’s credentials.

“I’m very excited to be fighting in Brazil,” said Cavalcante. “It’s going to be my first time fighting professionally in my country but I’ve had some amateur bouts there. Unfortunately, I’ll be fighting a fellow Brazilian, but this is part of our work. He’s not my enemy. I’m going to go out there, get the job done and shake his hand afterward. But if he wants to beat me, he’ll have to kill me.

“I’ve actually watched my first Brave event live in Brazil, back in August, and I was very impressed with the organization. We negotiated a good deal and I fought in Bahrain, which was great. Now I’ll have a chance of showing my work again, this time in Brazil, with a promotion that’s getting bigger and bigger by the day”.

Brave 11 is set for Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, and will mark the third promotional event in Brazil. Back in March of 2017, Brave 3: Battle in Brazil took place in Curitiba, with the city also hosting Brave 8: The Kingdom of Champions, the first time two Brave champions were crowned in the same night.