Mager Smashes Sagyntay Atop Brave CF 51 After Martins-Grabinski Canceled

On the button!

Denis Maher hits the spot and puts Sagyntay down!#BRAVECF51 pic.twitter.com/6QHv7u98nN

— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf) June 4, 2021

An unexpected complication removed Brave Combat Federation’s main event moments before it was set to take place.

The Brave CF 51 event in Minsk, Belarus, was set to be headlined by a clash between former 155-pound kingpin Lucas Martins (20-5) and Marcel Grabinski (21-6). However, the plan changed a few minutes before it began, when the commentary team announced it had been scratched after Grabinski fell ill. Following the de facto headliner, “Mineiro” came to the cage to voice his frustrations with the situation.

In the new main event, Denis Mager (8-0) kept his record unblemished by smashing Rinat Sagyntay (9-1) in Brave’s 175-pound super welterweight division. After the two took time to study one another, Mager found his range and connected with a few boxing combinations. Sagyntay looked to be mobile on his feet as he kept his Belarusian foe at bay with kicks. Mager waited for his opponent to overextend, and duped him with a left to the body that hid a right uppercut. “Kaisar” took the strike straight to the chin and dropped like a stone, where Mager followed up with a series of hammerfists to force referee intervention at 2:54 of the opening round.

Earlier on the card, Sam Patterson (7-1-1) defeated Professional Fighters League alum Ylies Djiroun (18-7) by unanimous decision at lightweight. In another super welterweight tilt, Vadim Kutsyj (16-1) kicked his way to a unanimous decision victory over Daniyar Abdibaev (8-3). Additionally, Ultimate Fighting Championship alum Roman Bogatov (12-1) upended Abdulmutalib Gairbekov (15-3-1) via unanimous decision at 145 pounds.

Muhammad Mokaev vs. Ibragim Navruzov declared a NC after a brutal low blow about 2:35 into R1 #BraveCF51 pic.twitter.com/NdtfbGhnL9

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 4, 2021

The highly anticipated clash between Muhammad Mokaev (5-0, 1 NC) and Ibragim Navruzov (5-1-1, 1 NC) resulted in no contest after “The Punisher" accidentally landed a groin kick, and Navruzov could not continue at just 2:34 into the fight.

Prior to this action, Yanis Ghemmouri (10-1) edged Vladislav Novitsky (9-5) with a narrow split decision in the bantamweight division; Badmatsyren Dorzhiev (6-0) outpointed Almanbet Abdyvasy (9-5) via unanimous decision at flyweight; Abdul Karim Badakhshi (6-0) rendered Aydemir Kazbekov (7-1) unconscious with a triangle choke at the 4:08 mark of Round 1; Anastasia Feofanova (8-1) forced Sevde Turk (4-1) to tap at 4:23 from an inverted triangle choke in the opening stanza at strawweight; at light heavyweight, Vadim Rolich (3-1) smashed Kurbonsho Jamolov (3-1) with spinning back kick followed by a series of punches at 4:35 in Round 3; the night opened with Bakhtovar Yunusov (5-0) stopping Artem Lukyanov (4-1) with strikes at 3:08 of the second frame of their 138-pound catchweight contest.