Sean Santella and Jose Torres fight to a
majority draw in an exciting main event at
#BRAVECF42Rematch in the making! Stay Tuned BRAVE Nation @Srock125
@ShortyTorresMMA.#BRAVECF
pic.twitter.com/scWvRCtacv
— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf)
September 24, 2020
Only one fighter advanced to the semifinals of the Brave Combat Federation flyweight tournament
today after an event full of decisions.
In the main event of
Brave CF 42, Jose Torres
(9-1-1) made his long-awaited return to the cage after over a year
away by taking on Sean
Santella (23-7-2). The winner was set to advance to the
semifinal to crown Brave’s first 125-pound champ, but that was not
meant to be in the battle of “Shorty” vs. “Shorty Rock.” In the
first two rounds, Santella showed off his Brazilian jiu-jitsu
prowess. Santella took his opponent’s back with ease, keeping
“Shorty” trapped on the canvas with a tight body triangle. However,
Torres managed to defend all the submission attempts from his much
more experienced opponent.
In the third, Torres came out strong, taking advantage of a gassed
opponent. “Shorty” mauled Santella for the majority of the round as
the former Cage Fury Fighting Championships 125-pound champion
looked out of answers. Eventually, the judges declared the fight a
majority draw, with only one of three awarding the victory to
Santella. The promotion has already announced that a rematch will
be in the works.
The co-main event featured another quarterfinal of the Brave
125-pound tournament, pitting Velimurad
Alkhasov (7-1-1) against Flavio de
Queiroz (12-3). It did not take long for the Russian to prove
how dangerous he is, landing several flashy combinations on his
Brazilian opponent. In the second round, Alkhasov put his wrestling
skills on display by taking his opponent down and busting him up
with ground-and-pound. The same story is also repeated in the third
round. When time elapsed, Alkhasov progressed to the semifinal with
a well-deserved unanimous decision victory.
Earlier on the card, Hamza
Kooheji (10-2) scored his seventh victory in Brave after
overcoming Aidan James
(4-2) via split decision. Kooheji managed to land harder shots in
despite his opponent sporting the reach advantage. James made some
adjustments in the second stanza, but it wasn’t enough to convince
every judge to award him with a victory.
At the beginning of the day, Bellator
MMA alum Ibrahim
Mane (8-3) upended David
Jacobsson (8-3) at the end of their welterweight battle by
unanimous verdict. In a lightweight clash, UFC vet Rolando Dy
(13-9-1) scored his first win under the Brave banner after edging
Maciej
Gierszewski (7-6) via split decision.