Amin Ayoub Demolishes Cleiton Silva, Captures Lightweight Title at Brave CF 44

Brutal!#AndNew - Amin Ayoub conquers Lightweight gold with this nasty knockout of Cleiton ''Predator''!#BRAVECF44 pic.twitter.com/o2BRR5twjH

— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf) November 5, 2020

A French revolution took place in Bahrain on Nov. 5.

The Brave CF 44 main event featured an intriguing clash as Cleiton Pereira da Silva (15-3) put his lightweight title on the line against Amin Ayoub (15-4). The defending champion imposed his striking skills over Ayoub early on before taking his opponent to the canvas. The French contender looked very comfortable with his back on the canvas and answered with a relentless submission offensive. “Fierceness” attempted multiple armbars, but the champion shrugged them off and kept scoring with strikes on top.

The tide changed by the end of the third round, when Ayoub shook “Predator” with a few shots. Although Silva was saved by the bell, the damage was done. Sensing that his time to shine was near, “Fierceness” stepped on the accelerator at the beginning of the fourth stanza. Charging forward with strikes, Ayoub dropped Silva. The champ bounced back immediately, but a stiff one-two put him down for good. A few follow-up punches from Ayoub may have been unnecessary, but the ground-and-pound sealed the deal. The referee stopped the action at the 1:23 mark to crown a new Brave Combat Federation 155-pound champion.

Beautiful submission by the Lazy King himself, Abdoul @abdouraguimov, his second straight at BRAVE CF! #BRAVECF44pic.twitter.com/SHapv7iaCR

— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf) November 5, 2020

The co-main event pitted Abdoul Abdouraguimov (12-1, 1 NC) against Louis Glismann (7-2) in Brave’s welterweight division. It took less than one round to "The Lazy King" to establish dominance over Glismann, who could do nothing but survive until his inevitable defeat. The French fighter landed a few shots before taking his opponent down, where he quickly set an arm-triangle choke. The submission attempt a successful one, “Spartacus” tapped out officially at 2:50 of Round 1.

In a 155-pound contest, ex-Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Rolando Dy (14-9-1, 1 NC) captured a unanimous decision over John Brewin (6-2). In the post-fight interview, “The Incredible” asked for the incredible by requesting a title shot after a somewhat tepid affair. Earlier in the night, Mzwandile Hlongwa (6-1) defeated Dominic Schober (11-9) in their middleweight bout. Hlongwa’s heavy strikes opened a cut above Schober’s right eye, forcing the physician to stop the fight at the end of the second round.

Elsewhere, M-1 Global vet Bair Shtepin (9-3) scored a highlight reel KO at the expense of Gerson Pereira de Jesus (12-8). Shtepin planted a spinning back kick square on Pereira’s liver right before the bell. The referee stopped the bout at the 5:00 mark as Pereira could not continue.

In the first fight of the main card, Yann Liasse (4-0) smashed Abbas Khan (0-1) with a flying knee and follow-up punches at 3:07 of the first round.