Eldar Eldarov mixed up wrestling with
strikes to close the round. A fantastic showing from the
29-year-old.
#BRAVECF46 pic.twitter.com/itTHDhVynv— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf)
January 16, 2021
Eldar
Eldarov scored his first title defense in Brave Combat
Federation’s opening event of 2021.
Eldarov (13-1) put his 165-pound championship on the line against
Leonardo
Mafra Texeira (15-6) in the main event of
Brave CF 46 at Wow Arena in Sochi, Russia, on Saturday. After a
few seconds of studying, Eldarov teased Mafra with a boxing
combination, setting the tone for the rest of the round. The
defending champion looked pretty confident with his punches, many
of which found their way to Mafra’s face with ease. The Brazilian
challenger retaliated with a few punches and some knees of his
own.
In the last minute, Eldarov pushed the pace to take Mafra to the
canvas. Even though “Macarrao” managed to defend the takedown
attempt, he ate a few punches from the clinch position. One of
Eldarov’s shots reached Mafra’s eyebrow, opening a gash right above
the Brazilian’s right eye. The ringside physician checked Mafra’s
condition carefully after the round and decided not to allow the
fighter to continue, giving Eldarov a doctor stoppage victory after
five minutes.
The co-main event featured a catchweight clash between former
Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight contender Ali
Bagautinov (20-7) and Oleg
Lichkovakha (14-5, 2 NC). It only took a few moments for
“Puncher” to showcase his grappling skills by taking his opponent
down. After escaping from a heel hook attempt, Bagautinov landed
some merciless shots of ground-and-pound from above. A series of
elbows from Bagautinov to the head mitigated Lichkovakha’s
initiative every time he attempted to return to his feet.
“Puncher” took Lichkovakha down in the second round as well,
capturing his opponent’s back in a matter of seconds. While
Bagautinov failed to close a rear-naked choke, he controlled
Lichkovakha on the canvas for the majority of the round, except for
a brief moment when the Baltic Bears representative took his
opponent’s back. Bagautinov started the third stanza by slamming
his opponent back on the mat, from where he mauled him with heavy
punches before attempting an unsuccessful guillotine choke. When it
came time to announce the scorecards, all three judges rewarded
Bagautinov with a unanimous decision victory (30-26, 30-26,
30-25).
Elsewhere, Roman
Bogatov (11-1) overcame Nurzhan
Akishev (11-3) via unanimous decision at the end of their
catchweight bout. In a heavyweight clash, UFC alum Konstantin
Erokhin (10-4) dropped Zhyrgalbek
Chomonov (8-2) on the canvas following a barrage of punches
that forced the referee to stop the action 41 seconds into the
second round. The first bout on the main card saw a showdown
between Magomed Absudalamov (6-0, 1 NC) and Andrey
Lezhnev (19-9, 1 NC) end in a no contest following an
accidental clash of heads 4:30 into the fight.
In preliminary action: Abdisalam
Kubanychbek (16-2) scored his third Brave victory after
submitting Jahongir
Saidjamolov (14-5) via rear-naked choke in the second frame in
a catchweight bout; Khunkar-Pasha
Osmaev (11-6) defeated Yuriy
Verenitsen (4-3) via decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in Brave’s
super lightweight division; Murtaza
Talha Ali (2-0) crushed Dmitriy
Krivulets (3-2) with punches in the opening stanza; Murad
Bilarov (4-1) submitted Fedor
Babich (4-5) via kimura in the second round of their 155-pound
encounter; Magomed
Kamalov (5-1-1) smashed Zokirzhon
Khoshimov (9-5) with punches and elbows at the 3:40 mark of the
second round; Saidguseyn
Surkhaev (2-0) submitted Erkinbai
Abdusalamov (0-1) with ease via guillotine choke at the 3:02
mark of the opening stanza.