Khalid bin Hamad al Khalifa, Abbas Khan

Training out of KHK MMA in Bahrain, Abbas Khan, 28, of Pakistan will make his professional mixed martial arts debut at “BRAVE CF 44,” which also marks his BRAVE Combat Federation debut. He will fight Yann Liasse, 30, of Luxembourg.

Featuring six professional MMA bouts and one amateur MMA bout, “BRAVE CF 44” will take place at the Bahrain National Stadium in East Riffa, Bahrain on November 5, 2020. In the second bout of the evening, Khan and Liasse will battle it out in the lightweight division.

Including Bahrain, Pakistan and Luxembourg, a total of 13 countries will be represented at “BRAVE CF 44.” The others are Austria, Brazil, Denmark, France, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia and South Africa.

Liasse solely represents Luxembourg. Khan is the sole representative of Pakistan and one of the two representatives of Bahrain.

Khan has been flying the flag of KHK MMA to the highest stages in amateur MMA and will look to have the same success as he begins his professional career. He started out with boxing training and still counts some of the best boxers in the world as some of his idols, such as Amir Khan, 33, of the United Kingdom, Floyd Mayweather Jr., 43, of the United States, Guillermo Rigondeaux, 40, of Cuba and Manny Pacquiao, 41, of the Philippines.

In Pakistan, Khan made it to the national boxing team. In 2014, he moved to Bahrain and transitioned to MMA.

Under KHK MMA and training with BRAVE CF athlete Hamza Kooheji, 27, of Bahrain, Khan has developed into one of the best amateurs in the world and has been able to achieve several feats. He won bronze medals at the Asian Amateur Championship in 2017 and in 2019 and a gold medal at the African Amateur Championship in 2018.

Currently, Khan holds an amateur MMA record of 12 wins, 7 losses, 0 draw and 1 No Contest. As an amateur MMA fighter, Liasse also had several wins in the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) in 2017 and in 2018.

Liasse has been competing professionally since 2019 and currently has 3 wins and 0 loss. He is the first ever MMA fighter from Luxembourg to compete in BRAVE CF.