Ali “Puncher King” Bagautinov stops Sean
Santella in the very first round and advances to the final of the
BRAVE CF Flyweight Tournament pic.twitter.com/tG6cowx2p3— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf)
November 6, 2021
It wasn’t the opponent he originally expected, but Ali
Bagautinov is nonetheless moving on in the Brave Combat
Federation flyweight grand prix.
It took a little more than one minute for the former Ultimate
Fighting Championship 125-pound title challenger to secure the
second spot in the Brave flyweight grand prix finals after stopping
Sean
Santella (23-8-2, 1 NC; 0-2-1 Brave) in the
Brave CF 55 headliner on Saturday in Rostov-On-Don, Russia.
Bagautinov was supposed to face Jose
Torres, but the latter pulled out 24 hours before the weigh-ins
after admitting he wouldn’t hit the contracted weight. Former Cage
Fury FC flyweight titleholder Santella was originally slated to
lock horns with Rizvan
Abuev but agreed to replace Torres on short notice.
After studying each other for a few seconds on the feet, Bagautinov
(22-7, 3-0 Brave) was able to connect with some quick punches
against Santella. Sensing the danger, “Shorty Rock” dove for a
takedown but ended up with his back on the canvas after his Russian
opponent stuffed it. Santella fought his way back on the feet only
to take a few more punches and resort to wrestling once more.
Bagautinov blocked another takedown attempt and found himself in
the position to land an elbow. The shot rocked Santella, who
immediately turtled up. Bagautinov scored with a few body shots
before attacking the head once again, forcing the referee, who
seemed unconcerned by the American fighter’s laments that the first
elbow landed illegally behind the head, to stop the contest 61
seconds into the opening round. “The King Puncher” will now face
Velimurad
Alkhasov in the tournament’s grand finale, which has yet to
receive an official date.
In the co-main event, Artur
Sviridov (5-2-2, 0-0-1 Brave) and Bellator MMA alum Ibrahim
Mane (8-4-1, 1-2-1 Brave) fought to a rare unanimous draw in a
175-pound affair. The Russian attacked his opponent with various
spinning kicks and quick combinations in Round 1, while the
Frenchman had more success with his shots in the second frame. Mane
came close to emulating the Anderson
Silva–Vitor
Belfort finish with a successful front kick, but he lacked
enough power to stop Sviridov. After realizing that he wouldn’t
solve the French enigma on the feet, the Russian landed a takedown
midway through the third stanza, which arguably allowed him to win
the round. Mane attacked with a deep kimura attempt, but the
Russian’s resiliency allowed him to get out of the submission
threat. Ultimately, the judges agreed for a unanimous draw with all
three submitting 29-29 scorecards.
Earlier, Sam
Patterson (8-1-1, 4-1-1 Brave) choked Kamil
Magomedov (14-2, 0-1 Brave) with a tight guillotine at the 3:21
mark of Round 2. After the victory, Patterson called out
lightweight champion Ahmed Amir
for a rematch. The two battled to a draw at Brave CF 23 in April
2019.
Elsewhere, 185-pound fighter Abdulsupyan
Alikhanov (13-3, 1-0 Brave) took home a majority decision over
Rustam
Chsiev (5-3, 3-2 Brave) with 30-28, 30-28, and 29-29 scorecards
from the judges; Sergey
Yaskovets (14-8,1-0 Brave) avenged a previous defeat at the
hands of Andrey
Bragovskiy (8-5, 0-1 Brave) after stopping the Ukrainian with
punches at 4:53 of the second stanza in their welterweight rematch;
in Brave’s 175-pound division, Kamal
Magomedov (9-0, 1-0 Brave) scored his ninth first-round finish
after forcing Vitali
Tverdokhlebov (7-7, 0-1) to tap with an armbar 52 seconds after
the bell; Rizin Fighting Federation alum Ali
Abdulkhalikov (9-1, 1-0 Brave) unanimously upended Artur Aliev
(8-2-1, 0-1 Brave) with 30-27, 20-28, and 30-28 nods from the
judges in a 160-pound catchweight clash; International MMA
Federation graduate Gazimurad
Magomedov (1-0, 1-0 Brave) smashed Dzhabrail
Aidamirov (2-1, 0-1 Brave) with punches 46 seconds into their
185-pound affair; Albert
Mallakurbanov (4-1, 1-0 Brave) outpointed Ahmed
Omarov (0-1, 0-1 Brave) via unanimous decision — 30-26, 30-26,
29-27 — at featherweight.
In the opening bantamweight battle, Vadim
Pavlikov (2-0, 1-0 Brave) submitted Alan Balaev
(1-1, 0-1 Brave) via rear-naked choke at the 3:56 mark in Round 3.