BRAVE CF 93 will take place in Zhengzhou, on Friday, April 18, and the promotion has officially confirmed the main and co-main event matchups to sit at the top of the fight card.
In the headline bout, former BRAVE CF lightweight title challenger Rauli Tutarauli will take on former interim title challenger Olzhas Eskaraev in a matchup with potential championship ramifications in the 155-pound division.
Georgia’s Tutarauli previously challenged reigning lightweight king Abdisalam Kubanychbek at BRAVE CF 87, but lost a narrow decision to the Kyrgyzstani champion.
Since then, Tutarauli has returned to the regional scene and bounced back into the win column to get back on track. Now he returns to the BRAVE CF cage looking to claim a big win to put himself back in the lightweight title picture once again.
Facing him is Eskaraev, who lost to Kubanychbek for the interim belt back at BRAVE CF 59, and has been looking to work his way back up the ladder ever since.
Victory over Chinese contender Zehao Zhang at BRAVE CF 84 signalled a return to top form, and now the Kazakh warrior will look to defeat fellow former title challenger Tutarauli to put himself back in the championship conversation at 155 pounds.
Awaiting the winner is the man who defeated them both previously, with Kubanychbek still reigning supreme at the top of the lightweight division. An impressive victory for either man could put them in line to face him again.
The co-main event will see Chinese star Jiniushiyue take on Tajikistan wrestling star Khurshed Nazarov in a battle of bantamweight contenders.
Jiniushiyue is known to his fans as “Little King Kong,” and the 24-year-old from Shanghai will be looking to claim a huge win on home soil as he makes his BRAVE CF debut following four appearances on Road To UFC in 2023 and 2024.
The 13-4 talent has claimed five wins by knockout and three by submission in his MMA career so far, and he’ll be looking to add to that tally of finishes when he takes on Nazarov, who suffered the first defeat of his professional career on his BRAVE CF debut last time out when he was outpointed by Nicholas Hwende, who subsequently went on to capture the bantamweight title against Nkosi Ndebele.
Now Nazarov is back, and looking to pick up a big win to open the door to a potential rematch with Hwende, this time with championship gold on the line.
