Mlambo looking for quick finish vs. champ in Brave 13 main event

Frans Mlambo will get the first crack at Stephen Loman’s Bantamweight title at Brave 13: Europe Evolution, set for June 9, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. And while he admits his opponent is a good fighter, ‘The Black Mamba’ hopes for a quick finish in his first MMA title fight.

The duo first met back at Brave 1, when Loman was superior in the grappling department, taking home a unanimous decision. In an interview with journalist Farah Hannoun, Mlambo talked about his last loss and the hopes for a KO win this time around.

“I did a few things wrong in that first fight,” conceded Mlambo. “It was a bunch of simple things – it wasn’t rocket science for me to figure out what I did wrong in that fight. Even though he fought a good fight and was smart in his gameplan, I feel like I gave it away to him. I’m just looking forward to redeeming myself. This time around I’ll have 25 minutes to win, but I want to take home the victory as soon as possible. I’m prepared to go the distance, but I’m training to not go 25 minutes.”

“The jab is one of my best weapons, and I tend to forget that sometimes. If you look at my last two fights, I used the jab and it opened up the big strikes for me. My coach John Kavanagh always says that I need to open up with the jab, but you can expect a more technical Frans Mlambo this time around.”

The SBG Ireland product will fight near his hometown and hopes to have the crowd support against Filipino Loman, who will defend his belt for the first time, after knocking out Gurdarshan Mangat back at Brave 9. Mlambo says he feels honored with the headline spot for Brave 13.

“I can’t wait to get in there,” said the challenger. “It looks like time is going on slow motion, but it’s a huge honor for me to be headlining Brave’s first show in Europe. I think it makes sense since I train in Ireland and have been with Brave for so long, going back to my KHK MMA days, so this is perfectly timed. A title shot near my home is the stuff of dreams.”

Brave 13: Euro Evolution will be held at The SSE Arena, in Belfast. The main event will be a rematch for the Bantamweight title as current champion Stephen Loman tries to go 2-0 against challenger Frans Mlambo. The co-main event is set for a Catchweight of 73 kg between former UFC fighter Norman Parke and Myles Price.

Brave 13 full fight card:
Stephen Loman (c) vs. Frans Mlambo for the bantamweight title
Norman Parke vs. Myles Price
Karl Amoussou vs. Rodrigo Cavalheiro
Andy Young vs. Bryan Creighton
Declan Dalton vs. Zack Zane
Sidney Wheeler vs. Mohammad Fakhreddine
Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Erik Carlsson
Konrad Iwanowski vs. Glenn Irvine
Chad Hanekom vs. Tarek Suleiman
Cian Cowley vs. Daniel Olejniczak
Ben Bennett vs. Adam Byrne
Piotr Tokarski vs. Sam Slater
Aidan James vs. Tommy Martin

Northern Ireland will become the ninth country to host a Brave Combat Federation, after Bahrain, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Jordan, and Indonesia.