After taking out last year’s lightweight championship tournament, Damien “Beatdown” Brown will make his Brace return in April where he will square off against Canadian veteran Kevin Manderson.
The pairing is locked in for Brace 39, which takes place at the AIS Arena in Canberra on April 16.
Brown will be aiming for back-to-back tournament titles this year after submitting both Abel Brites and Ben Games to become the 2015 lightweight champion. The 31 year-old, who also took out the Fight News Australia Domestic Male Fighter of 2015 award after going 4-0 in the 12 months, most recently fought at XFC 26 where he knocked out Kiwi Pumau Campbell.
After finding himself on the wrong side of the judge’s decision against Abel Brites back in mid-2014, Manderson, a veteran of over 35 MMA appearances, has put together a two-fight win streak with victories over Byron Cowell and Leo Diaz.
The next offering from the promotion, Brace 38, takes place on March 26 at The Big Top in Sydney. Keep up to date with the Brace 39 lineup at the events page.
* Photo courtesy of Huynh Nguyen (Facebook).
