Brave CF’s 1st Manila fight card announced

BRAVE Combat Federation’s (CF) first fight card in the Philippines is taking shape as five Team Lakay fighters strut their wares in front of a home crowd with Stephen Loman defending his bantamweight world title against Elias Boudegzdame.

The Bahrain-based promotion’s inaugural Manila fight-card, dubbed Brave 22: Storm of Warriors, takes place on March 15 at the more than 20,000-seater Mall of Asia Arena.

Jeremy Pacatiw, with a win loss record of 5-3, returns to the cage again eyeing his third straight win as he takes on fellow Filipino fighter Marc Alcoba (5-1) who is on a four fight win streak.

Harold Banario (4-1) finally makes his Brave CF debut against Russian Gamzat Magomedov (3-1) in a bantamweight clash.

Banario is supposed to debut in Brave last year but was force to withdraw due to visa issues.

“So sorry to announce that my fight has been canceled due to some problems. Supposedly I’ll be fighting but it’s been unfortunate. The embassy had a problem with my Visa and I need to respect that,” Banario said in his Facebook post last year.

Another Team Lakay making his way in Brave's Manila card is John Cris Corton (5-3) looking for a follow – up win against Abdul Hussein.

Jomar Pa-ac completes the Team Lakay cast as he seeks to get back to the winning circle when he takes on Sataya Behuria.

Other notable Filipinos fighting in Brave’s first Philippine event is former UFC fighter Rolando Dy who will take on Mehmosh Raza with Rex de Lara and Jayson Margallo facing each other in a flyweight clash.

Leading to his third title defense, Loman was named the fighter of the year by Brave CF.

The bantamweight king became the first champ to defend his crown twice in a row with dominant wins over Frans Mlambo and Felipe Efrain, after capturing the title in late 2017.

In a fan vote throughout Brave’s social media accounts, Loman took the crown over lightweight champion Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady, welterweight titleholder Jarrah Al-Selawe, middleweight contender Ikram Aliskerov and featherweight star Jeremy Kennedy.