Abdul-Kareem “Pride of Palestine” Al-Selwady, 23, of Amman, Jordan and Luan “Miau” Santiago, 23, of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil are scheduled to compete for the vacant Brave Combat Federation Lightweight Champion title. They will headline “Brave 18” at the Khalifa Sports City Arena in Isa Town, Bahrain on November 18, 2018.
Recently, Brave CF president Mohammed Shahid announced that Ottman “Bulldozer” Azaitar, 28, of Germany had been stripped of his Brave CF Lightweight Champion belt. Apparently, the Bahrain-based mixed martial arts promotion does not support the unwillingness of the undefeated German fighter of Moroccan descent to defend his title for more than a year.
Azaitar was named the inaugural Brave CF Lightweight Champion on November 17, 2017 and he now has 11 wins and 0 loss. He competed at “Brave 14: Morocco” where he defeated Danijel “Vitez” Kokora, 28, of Deliblato, Serbia but it was in the welterweight division.
Lucas “Minero” Martins, 29, of Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil became the Brave CF Interim Lightweight Champion by defeating Santiago on April 13, 2018. However, the Brave CF will no longer have interim champions and Martins is moving to the featherweight division, which was his original weight class.
In Shahid’s statement, he named Al-Selwady, Santiago and Eldar Eldarov, 27, of Russia as the top contenders of Brave CF’s lightweight division. The Brave CF president also confirmed that the new champion of the division will be crowned in time for the Brave International Combat Week.
Al-Selwady currently holds a professional MMA record of 9 wins and 1 loss. He is undefeated in Brave CF with 4 wins and is riding a five-bout winning streak.
On the other hand, Santiago has 12 wins and 3 losses overall and 2 wins and 1 loss in Brave CF. He is coming out of his loss to Martins.
“Brave 18” will be the fourth Brave CF event to take place at the Khalifa Sports City Arena. The first three ones were the promotion’s first, second and ninth events.
Watch Shahid’s statement about the vacant Brave CF Lightweight Championship here:
CONAN Daily 