Legend Cristiano Marcello comes out of retirement to fight for Brave
Cristiano Marcello: “I’ve received a wonderful offer from Brave, which is one of the biggest events in the world. I’m very happy to be back.”
CM System leader and MMA pioneer Cristiano Marcello has officially come out of retirement at age 40. He signed a deal with Brave Combat Federation, the biggest promotion in the Middle East. The signing was first reported by Brazil’s Combate.
Marcello has been involved with martial arts for more than half of his life and made his MMA debut in 1997. A black belt in jiu-jitsu, he was renowned for being the grappling coach for Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio Shogun, among others, in arguably the greatest team of all time, Chute Boxe Academy. However, he also forged a historic career as a fighter; Marcello is the only athlete ever to compete in Pride FC, The Ultimate Fighter, and UFC.
Marcello told Combate that the success of his CM System team made his reconsider fighting again.
“Fighting has always been inside of me, and as I’m watching my boys progress in the international scene that fire starts to burn again,” said the pioneer. “From watching over the training camps, then the weight cuts and that expectation for victory. I’ve received a wonderful offer from Brave, which is one of the biggest events in the world. I’m very happy to be back, I’ve always been competitive, I’ve fought for the world’s biggest events and I’m being welcomed back in a big event once again.”
It’s expected that Marcello will make his Brave debut in his home country as the promotion looks to go back to Brazil for the second time in 2018 in December. Marcello currently trains some of the biggest names in the Brave roster, such as former title challenger and 2016 Brazil’s Fighter of the Year Luan ‘Miau’ Santiago.
In other news, Brave CF has released the date for its upcoming event. Brave 14 will be held on August 18th. The venue and hosting nation are yet to be confirmed and will be announced in the 49th edition of Brave News.
Brave Combat Federation had hosted events in Jordan, Brazil, Indonesia and United Kingdom during 2018. There has been growing speculations regarding the possible destination, with South Africa, Brazil, Philippines, Spain, and Morocco on the running.
Brave Combat Federation has intensively added to the bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight divisions to meet the promotion’s current expansion. To date, the Bahrain-based global MMA promotion has signed 220 fighters from 40 nationalities.
Brave 14 will also witness the expansion of the broadcast front of Brave Combat Federation. At the moment the promotion is broadcasting the show via Abu Dhabi Sports, Combate, StarSat, VodaCom, Ran Fighting and Fite TV. The promotion is aiming to reach 120 nations by the end of 2018.
Mohammed Shahid, President of Brave Combat Federation has confirmed that events will be hosted in additional destinations around the world throughout 2018. Further, the Kingdom of Bahrain will host the 2018 Brave International Combat Week which will also feature 2018 IMMAF World Championships.
