After coming agonisingly close to getting the knockout in the first round, Frans Mlambo toughed it out to claim a late finish at Brave 4: Unstoppable.
There was no doubt over who the crowd favoured inside the IPIC Arena, UAE for the bantamweight clash featuring the young SBG prospect. His Jordanian opponent Jalal Deaja had the crowd's backing, as you could tell by the cheers he received for his work in the early stages of the opening round.
However, the arena fell silent in the closing seconds when Mlambo dropped Deaja to the canvas with a strong left. He pounced on the mat and kept peppering Deaja with strikes as he stumbled backwards, but the stunned fighter was saved by the bell.
https://twitter.com/TheJivemaster/status/847821613823389699
Deaja recovered well to take the second, edging the grappling exchanges and having slightly better success on the feet. Things appeared to be level heading into the third and final round, but with the crowd behind Deaja, there was always the sense that Mlambo couldn't leave it in the hands of the judges.
Mlambo was confident standing in the latter stages while his gassed opponent appeared to be getting fed up of constantly getting tagged. The beginning of the end came when Deaja shot in for the takedown towards the end of the third. Mlambo immediately latched onto his neck and sunk in an adapted standing-guillotine to force the tap with just over a minute left on the clock.
The stellar victory marked Mlambo's first under the Brave banner and sees him improve his professional record to 3-2.
https://twitter.com/TheJivemaster/status/847824754220429312
