Jose Torres Fights to Majority Draw With Sean Santella Atop Brave CF 42

Sean Santella and Jose Torres fight to a majority draw in an exciting main event at #BRAVECF42

Rematch in the making! Stay Tuned BRAVE Nation @Srock125 @ShortyTorresMMA

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— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf) September 24, 2020

Only one fighter advanced to the semifinals of the Brave Combat Federation flyweight tournament today after an event full of decisions.

In the main event of Brave CF 42, Jose Torres (9-1-1) made his long-awaited return to the cage after over a year away by taking on Sean Santella (23-7-2). The winner was set to advance to the semifinal to crown Brave’s first 125-pound champ, but that was not meant to be in the battle of “Shorty” vs. “Shorty Rock.” In the first two rounds, Santella showed off his Brazilian jiu-jitsu prowess. Santella took his opponent’s back with ease, keeping “Shorty” trapped on the canvas with a tight body triangle. However, Torres managed to defend all the submission attempts from his much more experienced opponent.

In the third, Torres came out strong, taking advantage of a gassed opponent. “Shorty” mauled Santella for the majority of the round as the former Cage Fury Fighting Championships 125-pound champion looked out of answers. Eventually, the judges declared the fight a majority draw, with only one of three awarding the victory to Santella. The promotion has already announced that a rematch will be in the works.

The co-main event featured another quarterfinal of the Brave 125-pound tournament, pitting Velimurad Alkhasov (7-1-1) against Flavio de Queiroz (12-3). It did not take long for the Russian to prove how dangerous he is, landing several flashy combinations on his Brazilian opponent. In the second round, Alkhasov put his wrestling skills on display by taking his opponent down and busting him up with ground-and-pound. The same story is also repeated in the third round. When time elapsed, Alkhasov progressed to the semifinal with a well-deserved unanimous decision victory.

Earlier on the card, Hamza Kooheji (10-2) scored his seventh victory in Brave after overcoming Aidan James (4-2) via split decision. Kooheji managed to land harder shots in despite his opponent sporting the reach advantage. James made some adjustments in the second stanza, but it wasn’t enough to convince every judge to award him with a victory.

At the beginning of the day, Bellator MMA alum Ibrahim Mane (8-3) upended David Jacobsson (8-3) at the end of their welterweight battle by unanimous verdict. In a lightweight clash, UFC vet Rolando Dy (13-9-1) scored his first win under the Brave banner after edging Maciej Gierszewski (7-6) via split decision.