BRAVE 12: PROSPECTS KHALID TAHA, ELDAR ELDAROV, MARAT MAGOMEDOV SHINE IN JAKARTA; UFC VET MAFRA LOSES BY KNEE INJURY

Jakarta, Indonesia – If you’re a fan of fighters who bring it with WWE-caliber suplexes and slams inside the cage, then take the time to keep your eye on KHK MMA Team’s Eldar Eldarov. Eldarov put on an immaculate performance in the main event of Brave 12, as he outhustled Dutch lightweight foe Brian Hooi (15-7, #419 World) over all ranges en route to an aesthetically pleasing and dominant unanimous decision win.

On the feet, Eldarov (10-1, #280 World) showed a really slick ability to change speeds, lulling Hooi into complacency before bursting forward with accurate punches and leg kicks that did serious damage by the end of the fight. Hooi is tough and plenty dangerous on the feet but didn’t have the answers for Eldarov’s tactical approach on this evening. The ground game went worse for The Hague native, as he had no problem exerting control and shucking off Hooi’s periodic submission efforts. This was a fun fight and a nice main event that saw Eldarov punctuate his emphatic unanimous decision win with a mean belly-to-back suplex followed by a Hulk Hogan powerslam in the final seconds.  Too bad the Brave social media team didn’t provide a clip!  Eldar Eldarov took the victory by unanimous decision to run his record to 3-0 inside the Brave promotion – that’s 10 straight wins for Eldarov since he lost to some guy named Khabib Nurmagomedov in his pro debut back in 2009.

Brave 12 Main Card #5 @ Welterweight:

W: Pawel Kielek (9-4-1, #563 World)
Unanimous Decision
L: Mehdi Baghdad (11-6, #165 World)

Mehdi Baghdad’s reputation as a vicious striker preceded his TUF 22 and TUF 25 reality house stints, and Pawel Kielek clearly got the message well in advance of this battle. Kielek wanted no part of trading with the hard hitter, as he moved to the clinch and kept Baghdad there for the vast majority of the fight’s first nine minutes. The Polish grinder’s work paid off with a takedown with a minute remaining in the second round, and he went back to work in the third with a takedown that sealed the deal. Exciting, no, but it was a thorough win for Pawel Kielek against the most notable name he’s faced so far.

Brave 12 Main Card #3 @ Bantamweight:

W: Khalid Taha (12-1, RIZIN Grand Prix participant, #170 World)
Submission-Mata Leon, Round 2
L: Hamza AlKooheji (6-2, #255 World)

German talent Khalid Taha entered the RIZIN 2017 Bantamweight Grand Prix with a career’s worth of momentum on his side. After taking out Keita Ishibashi in the tourney’s first round but his takedown defense and bottom game were somewhat exposed in the quarterfinals by DEEP champ Takafumi Otsuka. “The Pride of Bahrain” Hamza AlKooheji was apparently current on his game tape, as he tried hard to push Taha back into the cage and down toward the mat. Taha was completely unmoved, allowing AlKooheji to expend tons of energy before hipping through into a brief takedown of his own. Taha punctuated round one with a 20 second long sprint of video game offense, including multiple flying knees and some murderous-looking swings, but Hamza just barely survived the onslaught.

Taha used the clinch to force the fight back to the ground in round 2. From there the German/Lebanese prospect advanced to mount and pounded away before securing the back and eliciting the tap via Mata Leon (RNC). The RIZIN tournament loss certainly hasn’t shaken Khalid Taha’s confidence, and it looks like he really treated it like a learning opportunity. Taha stayed calm and calculating in the face of AlKooheji’s early pressure, and once his enemy was suitably worn down he flipped the switch to kill mode without a hitch.

Brave 12 Main Card #2 @ Featherweight:

W: Marat Magomedov (10-1-1, #469 World LW)
Unanimous Decision
L: Luke Adams (10-10, #24 SE Asia)

Globetrotting Californian Luke Adams surprised this viewer, at least, when he halted the first takedown tries from WSOF vet Marat Magomedov. After dinging Adams with a few decent jabs, Magomedov recommitted to his first serious shot halfway through the first and effortlessly passed to half guard. After riding out round 1 on top, Marat was content to point-fight throughout a tepid second stanza. Round 3 wasn’t much more exciting but it was more one-sided, with Magomedov sealing his decision win with five minutes of smothering top control. Decent stuff from Magomedov, and Adams hung tough, but Marat may find himself running into a wall with fight promoters if he keeps seeking such a low-risk path toward victory.

Brave 12 Main Card #1 @ Lightweight:

W: Gadzhimusa Gadzhiev (8-4, #148 Russia)
Sub-Verbal Submission (implied via scream), 4:58 of Round 1
L: Leonardo Mafra (14-5, 1-2 UFC, #285 World)

Former TUF Brazil contender Mafra maintained distance and applied pressure with kicks as Dagestan’s Gadzhiev surprisingly neglected to shoot for a takedown during the first round. That said, Mafra’s standup advantage wasn’t massive and Gadzhiev stayed competitive in the de facto kickboxing match with a handful of strong punches. Near the end of round 1, the bad luck hit for Mafra when he twisted his knee throwing a low kick and let out a full-volume scream. The Unified rules consider screaming in pain to be a verbal submission, so Gadzhiev walked away with his biggest victory yet via “finish” at 4:58 of round 1 while Mafra limped off with a heart full of frustration and disappointment.

Other BRAVE 12 Pro Contests:

Brave 12 Main Card #6 @ Welterweight:

170: Jarrah Al-Silawi (11-2, #152 World)  UD3  Tahar Hadbi (14-6, #141 World)

Sorry, my stream went out or this fight would have better coverage.  These two are very good under-the-radar fighters and I did see some nice striking from both of these top regional talents when the picture was in motion.

205 – Main Card Fight #5: Local Indonesian light heavyweight Vincent Majid (5-0) gave the Jakarta crowd a home towner to cheer for as he grounded and controlled Yi Chong Jing (2-1) en route to a wipeout decison.

145: KHK MMA’s Akhmed Magomedov (4-0) overwhelmed and brutalized five-fight ONE vet Anthony Engelen (6-4) throughout this late addition to the BRAVE 12 card. Magomedov had no problem finding the takedown – big surprise for a fighter from the Caucusus! – and beat down Lange Khabib-style in search of the TKO. When that failed he switched to a Mata Leon (RNC) that elicited the inevitable submission finish.

155: The forst notable contest of the early prelims saw multiple time world ammy tournament medalist Hardeep Rai (2-1) started off strong with an early punch and a narrowly-missed head kick. But once his early offensive pressure failed to produce a finish, John Brewin’s super patience and cardio took over. Rai’s frantic strikes left him gassed out by midway through the first round, and Brewin used a steady diet of jabs and right crosses to find the target as his foe’s head movement dwindled. Early in round 2 Brewin took the fight to the mat and pounded out the TKO victory from just over 3 minutes into round 2 – a huge upset for Brewin (2-0) that was predicted by only 12% of Tapology.com diehard fight callers.