FILIPINO pride was on full display on Friday night when Brave Combat Federation staged its first-ever event in Manila with local fighters coming out as big winners.
Brave bantamweight champion Stephen “The Sniper” Loman successfully defended his title with an impressive technical knockout victory in the fourth round of his headlining fight at “Brave 22” Storm of Warriors” at the Mall of Asia Arena on March 15 while featherweight Rolando “Dy Incredible” Dy was a first-round TKO winner in an earlier fight.
Seeing action in his home turf for the first time, Mr. Loman (12-2) of Team Lakay of Baguio City did not disappoint the hometown fans as he treated them to an exciting match that culminated in him stopping challenger Elias “Smile” Boudegzdame of Algeria in devastating fashion in the fourth round.
Mr. Loman, 27, established himself early on as the superior striker, connecting on body shots and confusing Mr. Boudegzdame with his southpaw stance.
After using push kicks and straight lefts to the body throughout the first three frames, the Filipino champ stepped it up in the fourth and started connecting with uppercuts, and ending those up with overhands, one of which sent Mr. Boudegzdame to the canvas. Saw an opening after, Mr. Loman swarmed in before the referee intervened to stop the fight.
“I’m happy with the result. I said in the beginning that I will defend my title here in our home and I delivered. It was not easy but we showed patience during the fight and it paid off,” said Mr. Loman after his victory.
Mr. Dy, meanwhile, showed superb striking skills in making short work of opponent Mehmosh “The Renegade” Reza of Pakistan.
In his element right from the get-go, Mr. Dy, 27, lorded it over Mr. Reza, finishing the latter with a combination to the jaw that even sent the Pakistani’s mouthpiece flying for the spectacular finish.
Like Mr. Loman, Mr. Dy was happy to come out triumphant in his Manila fight after parlaying his mixed martial arts skills abroad for a while.
“I would die before losing in front of my family, friends and countrymen,” Mr. Dy (11-7) highlighted in his postfight interview. He went on to thank Brave for allowing him to fight anew in the Philippines.
Also winners at Storm of Warriors were Jeremy Pacatiw, Harold Banario, Jayson Margallo and Jomar Pa-Ac.
BEST BRAVE SHOW
Meanwhile, after a successful first staging in the Philippines, Brave CF President Mohammed Shahid said he was very happy and even dubbed it as “the best Brave show” so far.
“It’s the greatest event I have witnessed, the best Brave yet. I really enjoyed it even if I was preoccupied with a lot of things for much of the time. The fans were great, the people were great. And I could not wait to come back here and stage another event,” Mr. Shahid said in an interview after the event.
For its Manila show, Bahrain-based Brave CF partnered with ESPN 5 as its official broadcaster. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
