The Lebanese MMA Fighter Mohammad Fakhreddine has captured the BRAVE Combat Federation’s Middleweight Championship by defeating this week the 2019 champion Daniel Pereira from Brazil.
The Bahrain-based BRAVE Combat Federation (BCF) is the largest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in the Middle East and the fastest growing globally.
It was established in 2016 by Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa and features mixed martial artists from more than 40 nations in five continents.
Mohammad “The Latest” Fakhreddine, a Lebanese superstar in the Middle-East and twice regional champion, was among the very first fighters signed by BRAVE Combat Federation.
He was scheduled to headline their first-event that year but “an injury pushed his debut to BRAVE CF 4 in early 2017 and two straight wins made him an automatic choice for the first-ever Welterweight championship,” the BCF said.
And now he is finally the world champion.
The event took place at the Bahrain National Stadium in East Riffa on Saturday, September 17th.
Fakhreddine took on the tough champion Daniel “Gaucho” Pereira, who fought hard to defend his position to ultimately get knocked out by Frakhreddine.
Critics acclaimed his victory to his “composure and firepower,” which “gave him the edge, and the BRAVE CF belt.”
“Fighting professionally since 2012, Fakhreddine had a rough road towards glory, which included injuries, tragedies, and a lot of hard work,” the BCF said.
“But he has shown the true power of his people by standing up when it counted, taking the biggest shots of the strongest man in the division, and putting him out when the time was right,” added BCF, praising him.
Indeed, from 2017 to 2019, Fakhreddine had already marked eight BRAVE CF fights, one of which ended in a No Contest. By then, he decided to reinvent himself and move to middleweight.
In 2019, he fought at the first-ever KHK Open Weight World Championship, beating Brazilian Kleber “Orgulho” Silva in the semi-finals but lost to Russian Azamat “The Professional” Murzakanov, in the final.
Fast forward, Fakhreddine was meant to headline BRAVE CF 35 with Italian Enrico “The Killing Machine” Cortese in Bucharest in July of this year, but the restrictions with the pandemic impeded him to fly.
Finally, on September 17th, Fakhreddine went for the prestigious title.
He and Pereira headlined BRAVE CF 41 during which the 35-year old Lebanese MMA dethroned Pereira, just after 1 minute and 8 seconds in the 4th round with Fakhreddine knocking Pereira out.
Winning at “BRAVE CF 41” comes now to boost Fakhreddine’s professional MMA record to 14 wins, 4 losses, 0 draw, and 1 No Contest. On the other hand, Pereira now has 9 wins and 3 losses.
And Lebanon now has his BRAVE CF world champion!
