There’s a lot of reasons to watch Brave 10: The Kingdom Rises in Jordan, with each fight having a special flare of its own. In this article, we’re going to talk about one of the fights that we feel stands out in terms of its intensity and heated rivalry between the two fighters stepping inside the cage.

No doubt that the beef between Mohammad Fakhreddine and Tahar Hadbi is huge and possibly the biggest we’ve seen between two fighters from the Middle East. Brave CF 10: The Kingdom Rises presents both these fighters the opportunity of finishing what they had already started at Brave CF 9: The Kingdom of Champions, and this time do so in decisive fashion.
Let’s go over the action that we witnessed in the last fight and break down the path to victory for each fighter in the rematch.

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER:

In the first fight, the fan packed Khalifa Sports City was watching in anticipation as the talk between Fakhreddine and Hadbi was finally going to generate into actual Mixed Martial Arts action. In the first round, Hadbi made good use of his height and reach by trying to stay away from Fakhreddine’s constant pressure of moving forward. Fakhreddine did not hesitate to move forward and as usual throw a couple of looping hooks followed up by a strong low kick, or he would start off with the low kick and explode, pushing Hadbi back in the process.

Barely around the midway through the first round, Hadbi lands a kick that hits Fakhreddine’s groin and the fight is momentarily stopped. Once Fakhreddine has recovered, the action continued with Fakhreddine moving in one direction, forward. Hadbi found his rhythm and started opening up some more, finding a home for his jab and 1-2 that clearly bruised up Fakhreddine. By the end of the round, both men engage in a short brawl after Fakhreddine fires a right hook that was barely blocked by Hadbi. Almost immediately after that, a couple of right straight land by Hadbi who is able to momentarily daze Fakhreddine, but the Lebanese warrior bites down on his mouth guard and goes straight back to war, ending the round impressively by keeping Hadbi cornered with pressure.

Round 2 started and Fakhreddine keeps his foot on the gas pedal, coming in with the same forceful approach that he found useful in the first round. The repetitive punishment that Hadbi’s leg is taking is clearly affecting his movement in the fight and Fakhreddine is almost landing the low kick at will. Hadbi landed his own strong 1-2’s to the face and eye of Fakhreddine that is already bruised up from several small phantom punches he’s been landing fast. As a result, Fakhreddine’s eye is cut and his face is bloodied. The momentum shifts and now Hadbi starts putting pressure. Fakhreddine attempts to quickly neutralize Hadbi by shooting in for a takedown, but Hadbi’s strength allows him to defend the takedown well and get into the Muay Thai clinch position. However, the only shot that Hadbi lands from the clinch is a knee, once again, straight to the groin of Fakhreddine!

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From this point on, Fakhreddine is floored and in a lot of agonizing pain. After a few minutes, the referee waves the fight off declaring it as a No-Contest due to the unintentional knee. Leading up to the rematch which was immediately welcomed by both fighters,
So, what are the keys to victory for Hadbi and Fakhreddine in their upcoming fight on the 2nd of March? Definitely no hits to the groin, let’s start with that!

Mohammad Fakhreddine:

Fakhreddine needs to keep pushing Hadbi back. When the distance is not in his favor, more head movement is required from Fakhreddine to avoid Hadbi’s fast and accurate favorite 1-2 combination. Another important key to victory for Fakhreddine could be the body shots. We didn’t see many body shots from either man in the last fight as both of them were mostly head hunting. If you notice closely, Hadbi has a tendency of putting up his hands high up to helmet guard and block Fakhreddine’s looping punches. Though he was successful in blocking a lot of strikes, Hadbi’s tendency could still be a potential opening that Fakhreddine could make use of in order to land a body shot especially if he can successfully force Hadbi to walk backwards.

Tahar Hadbi:

Hadbi’s biggest foe is the last bout was the low kick the he kept eating. This time, he might be able to find his rhythm much faster if he concentrate on working his leg check or leg catch technique well in preparation for the fight.
Hadbi had more of a counter punching strategy of approach which gave a lot of room for Fakhreddine to keep the tension, especially in the first round. An occasionally more aggressive approach for Hadbi can perhaps make Fakhreddine step back a little, giving Hadbi more space to breathe and be more creative. To highlight this point, Fakhreddine attempted to change things up and shoot for a take down in the 2nd round after Hadbi became more intense in his approach.

Finally, though both men obviously possess a lot of strength, Hadbi was able to grab an impressive Thai clinch after Fakhreddine’s unsuccessful shot for a takedown in the 2nd round. It would be interesting to see Hadbi go for the clinch if Fakhreddine closes distance on him repetitively.

The highly anticipated rematch between Mohammad Fakhreddine and Tahar Hadbi is scheduled for Brave 10: The Kingdom Rises taking place on the 2nd of March at the King Hamzah Sports Hall inside the King Hussein Sports City