BRAVE CF 85 fight card features India vs Pakistan fights as Bharat Khandare and Srikant Sekhar travel to Lahore to face local rivals

BRAVE Combat Federation will land in Pakistan for the first time in nearly six years for BRAVE CF 85, which takes place in Lahore on August 18. The event will interestingly feature the return of Indian MMA OG Bharat Khandare, who will be fighting for the first time in seven years, when he takes on Zia Mashwani in Bantamweight bout early on in the BRAVE CF 85 fight card.

The 10-fight card also features another Indian athlete as Srikant Sekhar faces Rizwan Ali in the co-main event of the evening. Rizwan is fresh off a Karate Combat win against India’s Pawan Gupta, so this is an interesting match-up for Indian and Pakistani combat sports fans.

The entire fight card features athletes from 12 nations – Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India, DR Congo, Kyrgyzstan, Bahrain, Georgia, Philippines, Egypt, Iran, and Nepal, which highlights the international aspect present in all BRAVE Combat Federation events.

In the main event of the evening, Ukraine’s Omar Solomanov will look to become the next contender at Nemat Abdrashitov’s Featherweight title when he faces Rauan Bekbolat from Kazakhstan.

While this is expected to be one of the first times Indian MMA athletes fight in Pakistani soil, the biggest rivalry in sports took place two other times in the BRAVE CF cage.

At BRAVE CF 9, Haider Farman bested Atif Muhammad via decision, and then one of the biggest KO’s in Asian MMA history settled the biggest India vs Pakistan matchup of 2021.

India’s own Mohammad Farhad brutally knocked out Uloomi Kareem from Pakistan in the second round of their BRAVE CF 47 match-up, putting together an epic post-fight photo celebrating his victory, which added salt to the wounds of the Pakistani MMA community. Three years later Pakistan vs India bouts will take place again with the biggest rivalry in sports reentering the MMA space in style.

BRAVE CF 85 Full Fight Card: