MMA – BAHRAIN’S sporting jewel BRAVE Combat Federation’s debut event in Bulgaria, BRAVE CF 86, lived up to expectations as the event delivered exciting fights for the thousands of passionate fans who took over the arena in Burgas.
In the main event, Algerian Mohammed Said Maalem made a strong comeback from his loss at BRAVE CF 81 by stopping Bulgarian veteran Atanas Djambazov in the third round.
The opening round saw a battle of strength as both fighters sought to establish dominance. By the second round, Djambazov began to show signs of fatigue but continued to defend against Said Maalem’s attacks. However, in the third round, Said Maalem capitalised on Djambazov’s exhaustion and secured a finish.
Alex Lohoré earned his second consecutive first-round finish in BRAVE CF by stopping Bulgaria’s Jivko Stoimenov in the co-main event.
Lohoré landed a powerful uppercut that dropped Stoimenov, then followed up with strikes until the referee intervened. Following his win, Lohoré expressed his interest in a super welterweight title shot and discussed the possibility of challenging Kamal Magomedov.
The fight between Pavel Vladev and Christian Mach proved to be a crazy one. Vladev sought a quick finish, but Mach’s grappling skills neutralised him. Later, Vladev nearly secured a ground-and-pound stoppage at the end of the first round but failed to beat the clock. A similar pattern unfolded in the second round, but this time Vladev managed to take the victory with a ground-and-pound just seconds before time expired, extending his winning streak to six.
Khamzat Maaev returned to the wins column with a first-round submission victory over Antonio Bushev. Maaev applied pressure from the start, allowing Bushev no opportunity to mount any offence before securing a triangle choke. This was Maaev’s fifth first-round finish in his professional MMA career, marking a strong comeback after his first professional loss at BRAVE CF 79.
Six-time Amateur MMA champion Rusi Minev continued his professional career with a dominant performance, outclassing Christos Tsirimokos over three rounds with his grappling prowess. The victory of Minev handed Tsirimokos, who was previously undefeated, his first professional MMA loss.
The catchweight bout between Gabriel Gilthon and Eduard Evdokimov was a classic grappler-versus-striker matchup, filled with high-energy action. A powerful liver kick followed by strikes in the third round gave Evdokimov the stoppage win.
In the opening fight, Anton Yanchev delivered a dominant performance, securing a first-round submission victory to remain undefeated. This was the third consecutive win by stoppage for Yanchev, who had plenty of support from the crowd in attendance.
BRAVE CF next heads to the Netherlands for BRAVE CF 87, scheduled for September 22, and six days later BRAVE CF 88 takes over Ljubljana, Slovenia, for a world title doubleheader.
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