By IMMAF.org lead writer, Jorden Curran Brave Combat Federation, the professional MMA promotion based in Bahrain, has announced the signing of former IMMAF World and European Open Championships gold medalist, Abdul Hussein. Born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, Hussein’s family moved to Finland during his childhood. At the age of 18 he was selected by the Finnish MMA Federation to represent his adoptive country at the 2015 IMMAF European Open Championships in Birmingham, UK. The young competitor secured four victories in the European Open from 19-22 November, besting Daniel Moeller (Germany) via TKO, Steliyan Ivalyov (Bulgaria) via submission (Guillotine choke), Renato Vidovic (Sweden) via a unanimous decision and overcame experienced Italian Marco Zannetti in the Men’s bantamweight final by way of a closely contested split-decision to pick up the gold medal in his debut appearance on the international IMMAF platform. Hussein extended his undefeated amateur streak to 8-0 at the 2016 IMMAF World Championships in Las Vegas, culminating on July 10. Finland’s top young prospect upped his high finishing rate, submitting Colombian opposition Bryan Munoz in the opening round followed by a TKO stoppage in the second over New Zealand’s Lath Stevens. In the semi-final’s he stopped Ireland’s prolific submission artist, Hughie O’Rouke, with a first round TKO. Facing off against the USA’s David Evans, the bantamweight duo provided one of the highlight bouts of the 2016 World Championships Finals. Hussein once again edged a split-decision victory to take home amateur MMA’s most prestigious title. He made his professional debut four months later and is yet to be defeated, competing under the banner of Finland’s long running domestic platform, ‘Cage’. Hussein joins Brave as a 4-0 professional, becoming increasingly more well rounded and varied in his methods of success. Having finished each opponent, he is yet to be taken into the final round. On March 2 he will be facing Nawras Abzakh (6-1) from Jordan at Brave 10: The Kingdom Rises, hosted in Amman, Jordan. The former amateur prodigy will be in action alongside fellow IMMAF World Champion, 2015 Men’s featherweight gold medalist, Frans Mlambo.]]>
