BRAVE CF 57 Results: Brad Katona crowned new bantamweight champion

Brad Katona was crowned the BRAVE CF Bantamweight champion at BRAVE CF 57 via BRAVE CF

BRAVE CF 57 is in the books and SBG Ireland’s Brad Katona is the new BRAVE CF bantamweight champion. Katona outclassed Bahrain’s Hamza Kooheji in the main event of BRAVE CF 57 to capture the title on Friday at the Khalifa Sports City Arena in Bahrain.

Watch the clip below:

Highlight of Hamza Kooheji 🆚 Brad Katona https://t.co/GDDUg9eSCr

Training out of SBG Ireland under John Kavanagh, Katona dictated the fight throughout with his grappling prowess. The fight started off on a slow note as both fighters felt each other out in the first round.

Brad Katona shifted gears in the rounds that followed and landed multiple takedowns which turned the fight in his favor. After five rounds of action which saw 'superman' keep Kooheji down, the judges ruled the fight in favor of Katona via a split decision.

A former UFC Fighter, Brad Katona improved his record to 11-2 with a win over Kooheji and called for a BRAVE CF event in Ireland in his post-fight speech.

Watch Brad Katona speak with Sportskeeda after his title win below:

In the co-main event, Mohammed Fakhreddine captured the light heavyweight title by stopping Mohamed Said Maalem in the second-round. Fakhreddine and Said had an eventful first round which saw to and fro action.

In the second-round, however, Fakhreddine took over the proceedings and dropped Said before finishing the fight with some vicious ground and pound.

Watch the clip below:

Mohammad Fakhreddine 🆚 Mohamed Said Maalem https://t.co/XuSYMEKYPN

A brawl ensued between 'The Latest' and Said’s corner after the fight as Fakhreddine’s rival Tahar Hadbi was present in the corner of 'L'Ambiance'.

The title was given to Fakhreddine once the situation was controlled and with this, he became a double champion in BRAVE Combat Federation as he was already the BRAVE middleweight champion.

The interim lightweight title fight between Abdisalam Kubanychbek and Cleiton Silva ended in a no-contest due to an accidental blow to the back of the head. Cleiton was unable to continue after this accidental blow and the fight was ruled a no-contest after the first-round.

Despite the official decision, Kubanychbek went on to take the interim lightweight title and celebrated with it around the cage. He also faced off against lightweight champion Ahmed Amir, who was in the building.

Sam Patterson continued his impressive winning streak as he stopped Khunkar-Pasha Osmaev in the second round. 'The Future' is now on a five-fight winning streak.

Egypt’s Maysara Mohamed produced a huge upset in the prelims of BRAVE CF 57 when he stopped Indian MMA star Mohammed Farhad in the second-round. Farhad came in as a huge favorite in the fight and was having some success before Maysara landed the knockout sequence.

BRAVE CF 57 was held as part of BRAVE International Combat Week, which is on-going in Bahrain. The week will conclude with the finals of the MMA Super Cup which will take place on Saturday.

BRAVE CF 57 Results:

Main Card Results

Bantamweight title fight: Brad Katona def. Hamza Kooheji via split decision

Light Heavyweight title fight: Mohammad Fakhreddine def. Mohamed Said Maalem via TKO (Round 2)

Lightweight interim title fight: Abdisalam Kubanychbek vs. Cleiton Silva ends in no contest

Lightweight: Sam Patterson defeats Khunkar-Pasha Osmaev via TKO (Round 2)

Lightweight: Husein Kadimagomaev vs Agshin Babayev ends in no contest

Preliminary card

Flyweight: Asu Almabaev defeats Imram Magaramov via unanimous decision

Lightweight: Kamil Magomedov def. Sayet Sadat via submission (Round 1)

Light Heavyweight: Murtaza Talha def. Mikheil Sazhiniani via submission (Round 1)

Bantamweight: Maysara Mohamed def. Mohammed Farhad via TKO (Round 2)

Bantamweight: Magomed Idrisov def. Rahmatullah Yousufzai via unanimous decision

Bantamweight: Abdulla Al-Yaqoob def. Omar Emad via corner stoppage

Amateur Lightweight: Husain Muhammad defeats Adon Ayoub via unanimous decision