Brazilian Leonardo Macarrão competes for the BRAVE super-lightweight belt

Macarrão (photo) disputes the BRAVE belt. Photo: Reproduction

The BRAVE Combat Federation will hold its first edition in Russia, on January 19th, in the city of Sochi. The main fight of the night will feature a Brazilian representative, Leonardo Macarrão, who is competing for the organization's super-lightweight belt.

Macarrão will face the inaugural champion of the category in BRAVE, the Russian Eldar Eldarov. The division, which is between the lightweight category (up to 70.3 kg.) and welterweight (up to 77.1 kg.) has a weight limit of up to 75 kg and was an innovation by BRAVE CF in order to avoid major weight cuts for athletes. , rearranging the categories and maintaining all weight divisions with a 10-pound interval between them.

The Santa Catarina native is an old acquaintance of the Brazilian public, as he was present in the first edition of the reality show The Ultimate Fighter Brasil, in which he was part of the team led by Wanderlei Silva.

Macarrão, who trains under Rafael Cordeiro at Kings MMA, also competed in the UFC twice, in 2012 and between 2014 and 2015. In his career, he has a record of 15 wins, 9 of them by knockout or technical knockout, and five defeats.

Macarrão's opponent, Eldar Eldarov is the main name in this weight range on the planet. The Russian based in Bahrain has a record of 11 wins and just one defeat, suffered in his professional debut against none other than Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Eldar and Nurmagomedov, in fact, are good friends and even trained together, with Eldarov being part of Khabib's camp and corner in some of his fights. Winning the BRAVE CF belt came in April 2019, with a triumph over Tunisian Mounir Lazzez. In recent years, Eldarov has also focused on his role as a coach and led the Bahrain amateur MMA team to the top of the IMMAF world rankings.

BRAVE CF 46 will open the 2021 BRAVE Combat Federation calendar on January 19th. The event will be held in Sochi, 1.600 km south of the Russian capital Moscow. The card will be promoted in association with local organization Krepost Selection.