The mood flares at the Brave CF 64 weigh-in
African All Stars is locked and loaded. The second part of the three-part Kombat Kingdom festival – shown live on DAZN – officially follows the conclusion of today’s ceremonial weigh-ins which took place at the Khalifa Sports City Arena.
With that being said, ten international gladiators from around the world were selected for this momentous card. After successfully gaining weight, these ten athletes expressed their appreciation at the animated staredowns today. Amateurs Burkina Faso’s Israel Mano and France’s Remy Serge appeared delighted to be in the middle of an international organisation’s fight week as they took the stage before reining in their emotions to focus and look each other in the eye ahead of their amateur light heavyweight bout. The usually calm South African Brendan Lesar cut an excited figure as he lined up to face BRAVE CF debutant, Bahrain’s Zagid Gaidarov ahead of their super welterweight duel.
Africa’s Zulu Warrior, Mzwandile ‘Snakebone’ Hlongwa appeared to draw inspiration from his ancestors as he took the stage with an intense look in his eyes before coming face to face with number one ranked middleweight, Abusupyan Alikhanov, ahead of their middleweight bout. The two warriors came so close that a hair could barely divide the space between them, forcing BRAVE CF President Mohammed Shahid to extinguish the flames of intensity and asking the athletes to face forward for the cameras and fans.
Excited to represent Africa on this special card, South Africa’s Nkosi “The Future” Ndebele approached the platform with his country’s flag around his shoulders as if he were Superman, moments later he actually called out bantamweight champion Brad “Superman” Katona after staring his Latvian opponent, Matiss Zaharovs, in the eyes ahead of their joint bantamweight match.
“Brad Katona is currently on a four-fight winning streak, after this fight I will be on a fight-fight winning streak. So I want the belt next. No disrespect to Matiss, but I am the future,” said Ndebele.
However, Zaharovs quickly tried to blow out the number five ranked Bantamweight’s flame. “I will stop his winning streak and I will be the second one to make a loss on his record,” added Zaharovs.
In the main event, South Korea’s Tae Kyun Kim and Russia’s Roman Bogatov ended the ceremonial weigh-in on a heated yet light note. Ahead of their vacant BRAVE CF featherweight title fight, Kim and Bogatov enjoyed some pleasantries before Bogatov complimented Kim on his flashy shades. Respect was the order of the day, but both athletes made it clear that they are stepping into the BRAVE CF cage tomorrow for one thing and one thing only … the BRAVE CF featherweight belt.
“I’ve come a long way to be at this point, since my childhood I’ve been preparing for this moment and for this title. Tomorrow I’ll be the second Russian BRAVE CF champion,” said Bogatov.
Kim – who proudly embraced his South Korean flag – pleaded with fans to tune in and watch history being made. “There are no expectations, but I will give everything I have to become the first South Korean BRAVE CF champion. “I will put up a hell of a fight for the BRAVE CF fans and MMA fans around the world … expect you a great fight.”
Watch Brave CF 64 live on DAZN
BRAVE CF 64 official weigh-in results
- Featherweight World Title: Tae Kyun Kim (65.6kg) vs Roman Bogatov (65.8kg)
- Bantamweight: Nkosi Ndebele (61.5kg) vs Matiss Zaharovs (61.6kg)
- Middleweight: Mzwandile Hlongwa (83.9kg) vs. Abusupyan Alikhanov (84.3kg)
- Super Welterweight: Brendan Lesar (79.6kg) vs Zagid Gaidarov (79.3kg)
- Amateur light heavyweight: Israel Mano (93 kg) vs. Remy Serge (92.9 kg)