Middle East-Based BRAVE CF Receives Nomination For Best Promotion At World MMA Awards

BRAVE Combat Federation has received a major nomination from an esteemed award-giving body in the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA).

Fighters Only Magazine, fondly referred to as the bible of MMA, has nominated the Bahrain-based outfit for Best Promotion of the Year at the 13th Annual World MMA Awards.

Joining BRAVE CF in the said category are the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator MMA, Legacy Fighting Alliance and UAE Warriors.

However, rival companies such as ONE Championship and Professional Fighters League were left out on the list, which was put together by the publication’s panel of industry experts.

Since its establishment in 2016, BRAVE CF has been very active in holding shows across the globe, visiting 23 different countries in the span of five years. Its list includes Brazil, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Mexico, India, Pakistan, Columbia, Romania, South Africa, Morocco, Jordan, Indonesia and the Philippines.

BRAVE CF's strategic expansion has been credited to its unique business model that focuses more on the development of MMA per region by creating an ecosystem, which will educate athletic commissions about the sport as well as provide a platform for promising athletes to hone their craft.

‘’The MMA industry can’t use social media numbers to start talking about who’s bigger. That’s funny because this can be increased in any number of ways. It has nothing to do with actual business success,” said BRAVE CF president Mohammed Shahid, one of the five candidates for the Leading Man of the Year award alongside the UFC’s Dana White, MMA manager Ed Soares, IMMAF chief Densign White and Bellator’s Scott Coker.

“The true business success is based on action, making starts instead of bringing already-made stars and on-ground presence wherever you go in the MMA markets. That’s true business talk. Those are true points of comparison.”

As a result, the promotion played a vital role in the development of local and homegrown talents such as Eldar Eldarov, Abdisalam Kubanychbek, Muhammad Mokaev, Jarrah Al-Silawi, Mohammad Fakhreddine, Mohammed Said Maalem, Abdoul Abdouraguimov and Amin Ayoub.

‘’We have the best scouting program in the world, there’s no doubt about it. That’s because we connect with MMA people around the world, we connect with the gyms, with their national federations, with everyone involved in the sport. That’s how you unearth the gems that we have,” Shahid shared.

This year, BRAVE CF has been very busy bolstering its profile as an MMA organization in Europe, hosting fight cards in Russia, Belarus and Italy. It is scheduled to have another event in the continent with its debut in Konin, Poland on September 25th.

Voting for the 13th Annual Fighters Only World MMA Awards is now underway on its official website. It will conclude on Wednesday, September 8th. The venue and date of its awarding ceremony will be announced in the coming weeks.