Sportsmanship, brotherhood and camaraderie were the seams that brought the first-ever German BRAVE CF event together at the Maritim Hotel in Bonn, Germany. BRAVE CF 61 - in association with leading local promotion, NFC (National Fighting Championship) - was a raging success for German mixed martial arts as 20 local and international fighters honored their opportunity to perform at the highest level.
The desire from the BRAVE CF and NFC athletes to give their all was evident as only three fights ended early with the remaining seven all ending via hard-fought unanimous decision victories as warriors on the losing side refused to give an inch.
One of the early finishes was the main event as history repeated itself when German-Brazilian Joilten Lutterbach put the Super Lightweight division on notice when he once again overcame his former opponent, Germany’s Marcel Grabinski via technical knockout in the first round.
Lutterbach started like a house on fire with powerful jabs absorbed by Grabinski who seemed lethargic in his approach. After those first exchanges Grabinski suffered a bloody cut above his right eye which was the cue for Lutterbach to wrap things up. Lutterbach continued to power his jabs through Grabinski’s raised guard before a telling right and left hook dropped the latter, spelling the end for Grabinski. Lutterbach pounced on Grabinski as he shelled up on the canvas, reigning down punches before the referee called a stop to the fight.
Joilton then had a simple, but powerful message to reigning 165-pound BRAVE CF champion, Eldar Eldarov.
‘’Eldarov, I am coming for you!’’, screamed an euphoric Lutterbach.
The co-main event competitors put their hands up for ‘Fight of the Night’ as Max Coga and Zafar Mohsen showcased an absolute three-round war in their 69-kilogram Catchweight bout. Coga was the clear favorite as chants of “Coga” reverberated through the sold-out Maritim Hotel hotel hall. Something reminiscent of the hit movie “The Kickboxer” when fans screamed “Nok Su Kao!” (The White Warrior) in support of Jean Claude van Damme’s Kurt Sloane.
It was a high-octane barn-burner fight with Coga being the more aggressive and crisp athlete as the fight played itself out on the feet with a few takedown and submission attempts during the course of the fight. Each round ended with Coga gaining huge favor with the judges as he finished them all strong. In the final round, the former NFC Featherweight champion almost slept Mohsen before the latter wobbled away to safety with just under 50 seconds left of the fight.
Coga then cemented his dominance with a 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 unanimous decision victory and remains in line for another shot at the NFC Featherweight title after his original opponent, current champion, Mert Özyildirim pulled out due to injury.
Germany’s Islam Dulatov and Brazil’s Kleverson Cruz put on a spectacular Welterweight fight that did not go past the first round after the popular and rangy Dulatov sent the crowd into a frenzy when he stopped the Brazilian in their NFC bout. Cruz threw all his energy behind his punches and Dulatov - instead of guarding up - obliged and headed straight in the fire with his opponent taking the heat before landing punches of his own before knocking the Brazilian out which was soon followed up by a beautiful gesture of respect by both athletes post-fight.
In one of the earlier fights of the main card, Bahraini Gamzat Magomedov extended his winning run to a five fights and once again proved why he is Bantamweight royalty when he put on a grappling and wrestling clinic against Serbia’s Borislav Nikolic beating him via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) before pleading with the BRAVE CF braintrust to give him a shot at the BRAVE CF Bantamweight title.
On the prelim card, South Africa’s Chad Hanekom did well to deal with the adversity of a late change in opponent and grind out a unanimous decision win over Poland’s Mateusz Janur before stating his case for another shot at the now-vacant BRAVE CF Middleweight title.
BRAVE CF 61 was the first in a series of three events in Germany. The next event will be held on October 8th when the organization lands in Munich, while Düsseldorf welcomes BRAVE CF on December 17th. For more information, visit www.bravecf.com.
Full BRAVE CF 61 Results
Main Card
Super Lightweight: Joilton Lutterbach def. Marcel Grabinski via TKO (Strikes) - Round 1
Catchweight 69kg: Max Coga def. Zafar Mohsen via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Welterweight: Islam Dulatov def. Kleverson Cruz da Silva via KO (punches) - Round 1
Catchweight 73kg: Husein Kadimagomaev def. Jose Marcos Jr via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)