Brave 9: Hardeep Rai to Fight Ex-Bellator Fighter in Brave

Hardeep Rai becomes the first athlete of Indian origin to be announced to compete at Brave 9: The Kingdom of Champions to be hosted in Bahrain.

The IMMAF Medalist will be facing a former Bellator fighter, Alex Trinidad in his second professional bout in his career. Hardeep is the first British Asian to represent the United Kingdom in MMA and also the only fighter of Indian origin to win a medal at IMMAF. Hardeep won Bronze in the 2015 European Championships and Bronze in the 2016 World Championship.

Hardeep defeated Arnan Chaiyasan in the first round at Brave 5 and had made a big statement in his pro debut. Lately, Hardeep was officially part of the Jackson-Wink team. Jackson-Wink is home to some notable names from the MMA world including that of Jon Jones, Alistair Overeem, Donald Cerrone and Cub Swanson.

This marks the first announcement of a fighter of Indian origin to be announced in the fight card. Hardeep rai had made his professional debut at Brave Combat Federation in Mumbai where he won by submission in the very first round. 

Alex Trinidad is also a veteran and had served in the 5th fleet of US Navy stationed in Bahrain. Both fighters will compete in a catchweight matchup during the 2017 Brave International Combat Week, which also features 2017 IMMAF World Championships held under patronage of Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.