BRAVE Combat Federation may have firmly established its roots in Bahrain but the mixed martial arts promotion has developed into one of Asia’s global sports juggernauts by holding a series of blockbuster shows in the region and its neighboring continents. The five-year-old company has staged 53 live events in 23 different countries, 10 of which are in Asia including the Philippines, Indonesia, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, India and Pakistan.

Headquartered in Seef, Bahrain, BRAVE CF was founded by Bahraini prince Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, 32, on September 23, 2016. Within five years, the promotion signed more than 500 athletes from 70 different countries.

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With all the barriers and records that BRAVE CF has shattered in Asia, the only way for the global outfit to go is up. The promotion’s president Mohammed “The Hawk” Shahid, 32, said, “We’re not just showing numbers.”

“We’re just stating facts,” Shahid continued. “BRAVE CF beats everyone in Asia.”

In line with its strategy of building talents from the grassroots level, BRAVE CF took advantage of venturing into untapped Asian markets like Kyrgyzstan, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. This makes it the promotion to beat in Asia.

For Shahid, the number of followers, likes, subscribers and views on social media does not necessarily determine the success of an MMA promotion. He explained, “’The MMA industry can’t use social media numbers to start talking about who’s bigger.”

“That’s funny because this can be increased in any number of ways,” the BRAVE CF president continued. “It has nothing to do with actual business success.”

Acknowledging the efforts of its counterparts to push the sport of mixed martial arts into greater heights in Asia, BRAVE CF made an effort to secure its ground and pole position in the territory through “BRAVE CF 47: Asian Domination” on March 11, 2021 in Arad, Bahrain that featured competitors from the Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Lebanon and Bahrain. On August 21, 2021, the promotion held its second event titled “BRAVE CF 53” in Almaty, Kazakhstan, highlighting 11 of the country’s homegrown talents on a 14-bout card.

“The true business success is based on action, making starts instead of bringing already-made stars and on-ground presence wherever you go in the MMA markets,” Shahid said. “That’s true business talk. Those are true points of comparison.”