The 2016 Brace championship tournament continues this weekend with the promotion hosting this year’s semi-final matchups at the AIS Arena in Canberra on Saturday.
Headlining the event will be a featherweight tilt between multiple Brace champion Jamie Mullarkey, 21, who steps up against Luke Catubig. Mullarkey, however, will be looking to rebound on the night after suffering his first pro defeat at the hands of arguably the top unsigned fighter in the country in Alex Volkanovski (fight video). On the other side of the equation, Catubig is fresh off a quick-fire KO of Kris Spence at Brace 38 and will now be looking to establish some consistency on his record with a win over the talented Mullarkey.
In the co-main event, Rick Alchin returns to the promotion to take on Eternal MMA title holder Tristan Murphy in the welterweight division. Following his decision loss to Andrew Mills earlier in the year, the hard hitting Alchin bounced back in May, stopping James Klingner in the first round. Murphy has also looked impressive of late with recent stoppage wins over Damian Fraser and Tom Kingston.
Meanwhile, 2015 welterweight tournament finalist Theo Christakos comes up against Sam Hayward, who returns to action following his highlight reel, head-kick KO loss to Callan Potter in February, a result which snapped an impressive six-fight win streak for the Ballarat based fighter.
Submission specialist, and Breakthrough Fighter of 2015 nominee, Jesse Medina makes his Brace debut against the experienced Alex MacDonald at lightweight.
Lightweight tournament hopefuls Anthony Bynoe and Nurbolat Kuandyk will square off. In the bantamweight division, Gustavo Falciroli conqueror Darwin Sagurit, from ATT Sydney, faces Sydney based Kiwi Byron Cowell and Ben Watson meets Richie Ivory among other matchups slated for the show.
Fight Card:
- Luke Catubig vs. Jamie Mullarkey – Featherweight tournament semi-final
- Rick Alchin vs. Tristan Murphy – Welterweight tournament semi-final
- Theo Christakos vs. Sam Hayward – Welterweight tournament semi-final
- Jesse Medina vs. Alex MacDonald – Lightweight tournament semi-final
- Anthony Bynoe vs. Nurbolat Kuandyk – Lightweight tournament semi-final
- Byron Cowell vs. Darwin Sagurit – Bantamweight tournament semi-final
- Ben Watson vs. Richie Ivory – Bantamweight tournament semi-final
- Joel Vigors vs. James O’Brien
- James Vandarakis vs Mike Taylor
Brace 40: Michael Tobin remains undefeated; submits Ed Arana in main event
