MANILA – Ilonggo mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Jenel Lausa bowed down Ryskulbek Ibraimov of Kyrgyzstan in the BRAVE Combat Federation 47: Asian Domination on Thursday night (Friday in the Philippines) at the Bahrain National Stadium in Riffa, Bahrain.
The Concepcion, Iloilo-native Lausa was unsuccessful in his MMA return after suffering a 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 unanimous decision loss to Ibraimov.
Both fighters tested each other in the opening round but Ibraimov showed his wrestling moves as he tried to put down Lausa several times but the Ilonggo fighter managed to get back on his feet to avoid submission.
During the second round, it was all Ibraimov as the Kyrgyz MMA fighter turned up the heat on Lausa with several take downs in the corner to drain the energy of the hapless Ilonggo fighter.
Sensing defeat, Lausa became aggressive at the onset of the third round as he landed some punches but Ibraimov caught him anew for a take down in the corner until the final buzzer.
Ibraimov was actually a last-minute replacement of an opponent for boxer-MMA fighter Lausa as his original foe Rahmatullah Yousufzai of Afghanistan withdrew from his three-round flyweight contest earlier this week.
Ibraimov, who is one of the best MMA flyweights from Kyrgyzstan, was supposed to face Kazakhstan’s Asu Almabaev on the same card before he was announced to face Ilonggo Lausa instead.
With the victory, the 28-year-old Ibraimov improved his MMA record to 19-8 win-loss, including six submissions and three knockdowns, while the 32-year-old Lausa saw his slate dropped to 7-6.
Meanwhile, Filipino Rolando Dy suffered a second round submission defeat against Kyrgyzstan’s Abdisalam Kubanychbek in a match that served as eliminator for BRAVE CF world lightweight title.
Kubanychbek showed his dominance in the ground game to finish off Dy with 47 seconds in the second round. For his victory, Kubanychbek earned a right to challenge BRAVE CF world lightweight champion Amin Ayoub./PN
