Brave CF 18 results: Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady dethrones Lucas Martins, Stephen Loman defends title

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was among the special guests at Brave CF and WFCA’s first collaborative effort Saturday in Bahrain.

In the main event, Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady claimed Lucas Martins’ lightweight title after the Brazilian appeared to injure his knee on the back of a takedown in the first round.

Seconds before the takedown attempt, Al-Selwady landed a clean overhand right that sent the champion reeling. Referee Marc Goddard immediately spotted the Brazilian’s reaction to the knee injury as “The Pride of Palestine” landed the takedown.

Martins later left the cage on a stretcher as Al-Selwady celebrated the quick victory, which marked his sixth win in a row.

Stephen Loman had to escape a very tight guillotine in the second round of his title fight withFelipe Efrain before eventually recording his second successful bantamweight title defense.

The bout ebbed and flowed over the 25 minutes with Loman being cheered on by the passionate Filipino diaspora in Bahrain. “The Sniper” managed to dictate where the fight took place a lot more than his opponent, which likely helped him to the unanimous decision nod on all of the judges scorecards.

Velimurad Alkhasov would have been crowned Brave CF’s inaugural flyweight champion after his conclusive five-round showing against Marcel Adur, but the Russian did not have promotional gold wrapped around his waist due to his failure to make weight. Alkhasov took the Brazilian to the ground liberally over the five-rounds to claim a one-sided, if not slightly underwhelming, unanimous decision win.

Cian Cowley made it two wins in as many outings with Brave when he stopped Hardeep Rai with grounded strikes in the first round. Despite Rai having a lot more experience in MMA, Cowley’s decorated Muay Thai career stood to him as he chopped the Englishman’s lead leg out from underneath him before stopping the fight on the deck.

Full results:

• Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady def. Lucas Martins via TKO (referee stoppage) in R1
• Stephen Loman def. Felipe Efrain via unanimous decision
• Velimurad Alkhasov def. Marcel Adur via unanimous decision
• Hussain Ayyad def. Mohamed Abo Ali via TKO (strikes) in R1
• Luan Santiago def. Djamil Chan via unanimous decision
• Cian Cowley def. Hardeep Rai via TKO (strikes) in R1
• Khamzat Chimaev def. Marko Kisic via TKO (strikes) in R1
• Rakhman Dudaev def. Joe Taimanglo via unanimous decision
• Magomedrasul Khasbulaev def. Rob Emerson via submission (head and arm choke) in R2
• Akhmed Shervaniev def. Antonio Carlos Ribeiro via unanimous decision
• Goity Dazaev def. Vasily Kurochkin via TKO (strikes) in R3
• Anzor Abdulkhozjaev def. Nikolay Kondratuk via TKO (strikes) in R1