How Brave Combat Federation is giving a new Hope for Brazil’s Luan Santiago
Luan “Miau” Santiago established himself as one of the biggest global prospects in the lightweight division. Luan Santiago, was crowned the Fighter of the Year at the Osvaldo Paquetá awards in 2016. Currently, on a 6-Win streak, he is all set to represent Brazil at Brave 8: The Rise of Champions to be held at Curitiba, Brazil.
Luan Santiago was born in a poor neighborhood of Salvador, one of the most violent cities in Brazil. His childhood was filled with images of violence and crime in his neighborhood. Like many young Brazilians, he grew up with a dream of a better life through sports.
"I saw in martial arts a new hope. It was difficult for me, because we didn't have facilities. I trained in a high school gym."
Remembers the 22-year-old athlete who signed with Bahrain’s Brave Combat Federation.
"My father introduced me to martial arts. He was a Taekwondo trainer. But he was very strict when it came for my passion to train different disciplines. It was through my cousin, I began training kickboxing, Muay-Thai, and karate. I had my first professional MMA fight soon after I turned 18. Everything happened in the blink of an eye but the truth is that I was growing too fast for that place.", tells Luan.
Luan moved out to Curitiba, the capital of martial arts in Brazil and host-city of both Brave Combat Federation editions in the country with just $60 in his pocket, which was a parting gift from Léo Pateira, his master Marcos Araújo, and other friends. Luan reached Curitiba wearing tank tops, shorts, and flip flops when it was freezing cold. Luan embraced the new start dedicating his time to learn new disciplines and train himself as a better fighter.
But it was when he faced his first professional loss, he recognized a new fire within him. He joined CM System gym and trained harder than ever before. CM System is the team founded by Cristiano Marcello, one of the most important names of Brazilian MMA. Cristiano was part of the iconic Chute Boxe team in Curitiba and is the only athlete ever to have competed at Pride FC, UFC and the reality show The Ultimate Fighter. Retired from professional Mixed Martial Arts since 2014, Marcello has been mentoring a squad of successful fighters including Luan Santiago.
"Cristiano is a father figure for me. He helped me to develop as a fighter and training under him made me a better man. He educated me and taught me to be dedicated and chase dreams without trampling over anyone. And that's how we do it here. We have three to four training sessions a day. We live our lives to the sport, like every professional must do".
It was then Luan Santiago signed with Brave Combat Federation. After a dominating submission victory in his first bout in Brave CF against Ivan Castillo, Miau will face his fellow countryman Eric Parrudo in the main card bout of Brave 8: The Rise of Champions. Miau and Parrudo have already shared the mats in the past, training together while Santiago was living in Salvador, and Luan is all set to revisit the past that he had left behind.
"He's just another obstacle in my way. We trained together around two years ago and I know him, he's a very experienced fighter. But he doesn't know me or the struggles that I had gone through. I am not the same fighter I was back then.”, concluded Luan.
Brave 8: The Rise of Champions will feature two championship title fights in Curitiba, Brazil on 12th August 2017. This marks the second time that the Bahrain based sports promotion is hosted in Brazil. In the main event, Timo Feucht from Germany will face Klidson Farias from Brazil in a Light Heavyweight championship title match while in the co-main event, Mohammed Fakhreddine from Lebanon will face Carl Booth from the United Kingdom in a Welterweight Championship title match.
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