Jenel Lausa to have new opponent in Brave debut

FILIPINO flyweight fighter Jenel “The Demolition Man” Lausa will have a new opponent when he makes his Brave Combat Federation (CF) debut on Thursday in Bahrain.

In an announcement made on Tuesday, Brave said the mixed martial arts-returning Lausa (7-5) now battles Ryskulbek Ibraimov of Kyrgyzstan in his first fight with the promotion in place of Rahmatullah Yousufzai of Afghanistan.

Mr. Yousufzai withdrew from the scheduled fight with Mr. Lausa at “Brave CF 47: Asian Domination,” forcing Brave to look for a last-minute replacement.

Stepping in is Mr. Ibraimov (18-8), who incidentally found himself on the same boat as Mr. Lausa when his supposed opponent on the same card withdrew days before the fight.

The Kyrgyzstan fighter was to take on Kazakhstan’s Asu Almabaev.

Mr. Ibraimov, 29, is one of the top flyweights to emerge from Kyrgyzstan. Of his victories to date, six came by way of submission and three by knockout.

He is expected to present a tough challenge to Iloilo native Lausa, who will be having his first MMA fight since 2018.

Mr. Lausa was a former flyweight champion at Pacific X-treme Combat before taking his act to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he stayed for two years.

Apart from MMA, Mr. Lausa likewise made his mark inside the boxing ring, owning a perfect 10-0-1 standing with six knockouts. He captured the Philippine Boxing Federation Super Bantamweight Championship in 2016 and then clinched the Global Boxing Organization Asia-Pacific Super Featherweight Title three years later.

Brave CF 47 is headlined by the lightweight world title eliminator between Filipino Rolando “Dy Incredible” Dy and Kyrgyzstan’s Abdisalam Kubanychbek. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo