BRAVE Combat Federation (CF) has a new world champion as Nemat Abdrashitov flipped the script by outlasting Roman Bogatov, widely expected to have the advantage in endurance.
In the end, Abdrashitov was too much for his opponent and became BRAVE CF’s fourth featherweight titleholder in a dogged performance in the main event of the Kombat Kingdom’s BRAVE 72 in Bahrain.
He becomes the second Kyrgyz world champion following the footsteps of his friend and training partner, lightweight king Abdisalam Kubanychbek.
Abdrashitov was then surprised to see Omar Solomanov get into the cage for a special face-off. Solomanov had beaten Ilyar Askhanov at BRAVE 71 to earn the shot at the winner of tonight’s main event and will now face the Kyrgyz fighter later this year.
Bogatov’s gameplan was to use his wrestling strategy to tire his opponent and eventually work his way to a stoppage. But Abdrashitov had other plans. In what became a staple of the fight, “Eagle” surprised the Russian early on by locking in a guillotine which almost made Bogatov go to sleep.
From then on, the pace of the fight was played out in the kyrgyz’s favour, with the challenger hurting the champion at times, while also using his own wrestling to keep any offence from his opponent to a minimum.
In the third round, he nearly finished Bogatov again, when he connected with a right hand that sent his opponent crawling near the cage. He locked in an arm-triangle choke, but the Russian refused to tap and ended the round on top, opening up a cut on Abdrashitov’s forehead.
Fired up by his own blood, he took the initiative, punished Bogatov with hard punches and, when the wrestling element took over, was able to keep his wits and come out on top.
In the end, judges had the bout 50-45, 49-46, and 48-47 in favour of the new champion.
Before the main event, a bloody co-main event took place with Bidzina Gavashelishvili’s takedown speed the difference maker against Muhammad Idrisov. The Georgian flyweight’s wrestling was a major factor in him earning 29-28’s across the board.
For Idrisov, his first professional defeat can be a learning moment, as he looks to go back to the drawing board and figure out his next steps. The IMMAF European champion could very well reinvent himself at bantamweight as the size difference was in his favour.
BRAVE CF will land in Nantes, France, on September 7 for its first event in the country with Yanis Ghemmouri and Ylies Djiroun confirmed to fight following victories at BRAVE 72.
Djiroun, coming off a two-year layoff, was sharper, faster, and stronger than Olzhas Eskaraev, beating his Kazakh opponent via unanimous decision. Ghemmouri had an even more impressive performance, nullifying Mehmosh Raza’s offence in the first before connecting with a very well-timed knee and knocking out ‘The Renegade’.
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