Mohammed Shahid, Alfonso Ver

On March 15,2019, Brave Combat Federation will hold “Brave 22: Storm of Warriors,” its first event in the Philippines. The country is home to various festivals known as fiestas, a Spanish influence that survived through the centuries.

“Brave 22: Storm of Warriors” will take place at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines, a venue that is perfect for an MMA fiesta. Brave CF president Mohammed Shahid said, “A Brave event is an extravagant festival when it happens.”

Filipinos can expect to see several celebrities from around the world to attend “Brave 22: Storm of Warriors.” Shahid told me, “You will have people from around the world flying.”

“You will have private jets landing in (the) Philippines,” Shahid continued. “This is what’s gonna happen. (The) Mall of Asia never had (a) royal family coming down to watch.”

His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Brave CF founder, is expected to attend “Brave 22: Storm of Warriors,” which was strongly supported by Philippine Ambassador to Bahrain, Alfonso Ver. Shahid said, “We have celebrities from around the world there to network.”

“We have royals, we have businessmen, we have  government (officials) there,” the Brave CF president added. “It’s gonna be a star-packed event and every sponsor would want those eyes to be on that, you know.”

When I asked Shahid which celebrities are we expecting at “Brave 22: Storm of Warriors,” he clarified that Brave CF does not intentionally bring them in the events just to show them off to the world. He told me, “It’s gonna be a star-studded event anyway, so every fighter would want to be part of that because it’s good for their reputation.”

According to Shahid, it is good for the fighters to network around important people. He asked, “Which other place can you to go to network with the right people other than Brave?”

“Neither the UFC nor any other promotion has the caliber of policy-makers like Brave has in their events,” Shahid explained. He said this is the reason why many UFC fighters and athletes from other sports attend Brave CF events.

“It became a behavior of Brave now that when (a) Brave (event) is happening, everyone wants to go there because it’s a big networking program,” Shahid noted. “We love that idea. We wanna give them more hospitality because that’s what we are known for, giving good hospitality to our fighters and our friends and our VVIPs.”

Watch my full interview with Shahid here: