Cian Cowley has the Brave Combat Federation Lightweight belt on his sights as he heads to the Philippines for Brave 22: Storm of Warriors, on March 15th. The Irishman will face New Zealand’s own John Brewin and is hoping to go 3-0 for the promotion and take one more step towards his ultimate goal of being a world champion for Brave.
Cowley says he admires Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady, the current Lightweight titleholder, but claims “The Pride of Palestine” is number one on his “hit list”.
“I respect and admire Al-Selwady a lot. He’s from Palestine and I admire his people, they are similar to the Irish in some ways. He’s a great champion, a great athlete and I haven’t got one bad word to say about him. He’s the reigning champion at the moment, so he’s on top of my hit list. It’s just the way it goes”, says Cowley.
In his two first fights with the biggest MMA organization in the Middle East, “The Warrior” got two quick knockouts but is expecting a sterner test against Brewin.
“Brewin is a good fighter. I respect him a lot. I’ve seen him fight live twice and he’s got a great mindset. I can tell that about him. I’m good at reading people, but it’s a great fight for me. I had my eye on him since my first fight in Belfast (back at Brave 13). I knew I was going to end up fighting him down the road. I didn’t know it was going to be this soon, but here we are. This is a great time for me, I’m coming off two finishes. He has great finishes in his career as well, so it’s going to be a good clash”, analyses “The Warrior”.
Brave 22 takes place at the iconic Mall of Asia Arena, in Manila, and will be headlined by a Bantamweight title fight between reigning champion and hometown hero Stephen Loman and Elias Boudegzdame, who’s a former Featherweight titleholder. Also on deck for fight night is the debut of Jose Torres, who takes on Amir Albazi in the co-main event.