BRAVE Combat Federation belt (© BRAVE CF)

BRAVE Combat Federation recently held Kombat Kingdom in Bahrain. It is a series of three mixed martial arts events namely “BRAVE CF 41” on September 17, 2020, “BRAVE CF 42” on September 24, 2020 and “BRAVE CF 43” on October 1, 2020.

Including Bahrain, 23 counties were represented in Kombat Kingdom. The others are Afghanistan, Brazil, Bulgaria, England, France, India, Iran, Ireland, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, the Netherlands, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Scotland, South Korea, Sweden, Tajikistan, the United States and Wales.

Some new additions expanded the BRAVE CF global footprint. It made the Bahrain-based MMA promotion reach the mark of 72 countries since its inaugural event on September 23, 2016.

Among the records broken, Mohammed Fakhreddine became the athlete with the most knockouts in BRAVE CF history, now with 5 knockouts under his belt. Hamza Kooheji and Ikram Aliskerov tied with BRAVE CF Welterweight World Champion Jarrah Al Silawi as the athletes with most wins in BRAVE CF with seven each.

In the last bout of Kombat Kingdom, Al Silawi took the lead once again, making it eight wins under the BRAVE CF banner. He also broke Jeremy Pacatiw’s record and now sits alone in the first place of the longest cage time in the promotion’s history with 125 minutes and 27 seconds spent inside the BRAVE CF Arena.

Al Silawi’s successful debut in the middleweight division with a unanimous decision over Melvin van Suijdam in the main event of “BRAVE CF 43” was the final chapter of Kombat Kingdom. The three fight nights in consecutive weeks portrayed what BRAVE CF is all about with compelling stories, iconic bouts and many records set.

Kombat Kingdom kicked off with one of the most emotional and anticipated moments of the year with Fakhreddine capturing the middleweight world title against Brazil’s Daniel “Gaúcho” Pereira.

Fakhreddine, whose 2020 was particularly tough, amidst a wave of bad news striking the whole world, managed do become the world champion after a series of personal and collective tragedies, that included the global Covid-19 pandemic, the port explosion in his hometown of Beirut, his house burning down and a series of injuries and canceled bouts.

Still, despite all the adversities, Fakhreddine managed to stand victorious and fulfil his destiny inside the BRAVE CF arena, knocking Pereira out and becoming the new 84kg kingpin.

The following week saw the latest step in the meteoric rise of  Kooheji. Looking sharper than ever, he remained undefeated in his home soil and won, arguably, the biggest fight in his career, topping Wales’ Aidan James and getting really close to a bantamweight title shot.

The glory of the hometown hero was just a prequel of what was about to come. The first two bouts of the BRAVE CF Flyweight Tournament brought excitement and controversy to the table.

First, Russia’s Velimurad Alkhasov beat Brazil’s Flavio de Queiroz to secure a spot in the semifinals. In the main event of the evening, the clash of Shorties between Jose “Shorty” Torres and Sean “Shorty Rock” Santella ended in a draw, which in a tournament means that the two fellow Americans will meet again in a future date for a spot in the final four.

Apart from the abovementioned middleweight debut for Al Silawi, “BRAVE CF 43” was also the stage for the quick turnaround of MMA phenom Muhammad Mokaev. The undefeated two-time IMMAF World Champion put on yet another stellar performance and extended his pro record to 3-0 with a unanimous decision win over Jamie Kelly.