The debut Brace Championship Tournament comes to a head this Saturday night in Canberra with six titles up for grabs from bantamweight through to the light heavyweight division. In what is another first for the promotion, the event will be streamed live on Network Ten’s multi-platform portal, Tenplay, after the promotion recently inked a broadcast deal with the Network.
Taking place at the AIS Arena, the show will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between arguably the local division’s top fighter in Corey Nelson, and the undefeated Steve Micalleff. Nelson, who captured the title back in early 2013, chose to sit out the tournament and face the winner from the other welterweight bracket in Canberra. ‘Major’ has kept busy this year however, picking up wins outside the promotion over Rick Alchin and Callan Potter. This year also saw him suffer his first defeat since 2012, losing a unanimous decision to Anton Zafir. After three years on the sidelines, Micalleff, who trains out of the Sinosic/Perosh gym in Sydney, made his MMA return in March and outpointed Hoshi Friedrich. He later submitted Regan Wilson in August to book his spot opposite Nelson in the final.
A featherweight title tilt between undefeated Beston-Gracie Newcastle’s JJ Van Aswegen, 33, and 19 year-old Central Coast fighter Jamie Mullarkey will serve as the co-main event. Van Aswegen booked his place in the final with wins over Luke Standing and Gokhan Turkyilmaz. On the other side of the draw, Mullarkey defeated Joshua Pecastaing and Byron Cowell.
With tournament wins over Richie Ivory and Edwin Arana, undefeated 20 year-old Victorian Jordan Lucas earned his 2014 bantamweight final birth and will now square off with Storm Damage featherweight champion Steve Reeks. Reeks gets fast tracked to the finals due to injuries.
Training under Priscus Fogagnolo in Tasmania, middleweight Rob Wilkinson will ride a six fight win streak into Canberra and will look to remain undefeated when he comes up against Sydney’s Gerhard Voigt. Wilkinson earned his spot in the 2014 middleweight final with first round stoppage wins over Kitt Campbell and Rick Alchin. On the other side of the equation, the Sinosic/Perosh trained Voigt defeated Mohammed Abu Naim and William Namoa in the tournament, also ending both fights in the opening period.
The 2014 lightweight title will be contested between Sydney fighters Abel Brites and Ali Cevik. Brites, one of three SPMA fighters in the finals, paved his path to Canberra with first round wins over Kevin Manderson and Adam Bourke. Cevik gets fast tracked to the final with a win over Aydin Mrouki at Brace 28 behind him. Former lightweight champion Oriol Gaset is currently training in Spain and chose not to defend the title.
The opening title fight in Canberra will see Mike Turner and Connor Murphy vie for the 2014 light heavyweight title. Adelaide’s Mike Turner booked his spot in the final with a unanimous decision win over Sam Kei, while Hobart’s Connor Murphy took out Chris Lofts and Francis Cullimore.
Fight Card:
- Corey Nelson vs Steven Micalleff – Welterweight Title Fight
- Jamie Mullarkey vs JJ Van Aswegen – Featherweight Title Fight
- Jordan Lucas vs Steve Reeks – Bantamweight Title Fight
- Gerhard Voigt vs Rob Wilkinson – Middleweight Title Fight
- Abel Brites vs Ali Cevik – Lightweight Title Fight
- Mike Turner vs Connor Murphy – Light Heavyweight Title Fight
Pro Undercard:
- Nurbolat Kuandyk vs Matt Darke
Amateur Undercard:
- Josh Lagudah vs TBA
- Nicholas Bates vs James Obrian
- Jack Veliks vs Ryan Gillet
