Coaches John Kavanagh and Eldar Eldarov bet over O’Driscoll vs Mokaev

25 September 2021

The co-main event of the evening between Blaine O’Driscoll and Muhammad Mokaev is already one of the most anticipated bouts of the upcoming BRAVE CF 54 fight card, to be held on September 25 in Poland. But things got even more interesting after the coaches John Kavanagh and Eldar Eldarov agreed upon a bet to spice things up.

Kavanagh is the leader of the prestigious SBG Ireland team in Dublin, which brought up names such as Conor McGregor and Gunnar Nelson. He is also one of the names behind the Irish Amateur team, representing the country at the IMMAF ranks.

Eldar Eldarov is a force of nature both as a fighter and coach. The childhood friend of Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is also, funnily enough, responsible for his only professional loss, is the reigning BRAVE CF Super Lightweight Champion of the world.

Eldarov is also the head coach of the KHK Team in The Kingdom of Bahrain, leading the most successful nation ever in the history of IMMAF, Team Bahrain, to unprecedented results.

Now, these two iconic figures engaged in a bet in which each one of them is backing his protégée. If O’Driscoll wins, Eldarov will wear a shirt with “I love Ireland” in it. If Mokaev emerges victorious, it’ll be Kavanagh who will appear wearing an “I love Bahrain” shirt. To make matters even more serious, the loser will have to post the result in his social media accounts for the whole world to see it.

There’s yet another layer in this story, a strong gym feud established between SBG Ireland and KHK MMA, which evolved into a rather national rivalry as well.

The last factor is the recent antagonism between Ireland and Dagestan in MMA, which arguably reached its peak during the infamous McGregor vs Nurmagomedov fight, both men with close connections to Kavanagh and Eldarov. Such elements, of course, only add more historical relevance.

BRAVE CF 54 takes place on September 25, in Konin, Poland. The event, promoted in association with Galana Exclusive Championship, will be headlined by the Lightweight World Championship bout between Amin Ayoub and Ahmed Amir.

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