UFC veteran Guto Inocente is one of the names confirmed for a one-night, four-man openweight tournament at Brave Combat Federation on Nov. 15 in Bahrain.
Brave CF officially announced the semifinal match-ups on Monday, revealing Inocente will take on Azamat Murzakanov and Moise Rimbon will fight Malik Merad. The winners will collide for a $100,000 check offered to the tournament’s victor.
Mohammed Fakhreddine is the alternate ready to jump in in case of an injury.
Inocente (7-4) hasn’t fought in mixed martial arts rules since 2015, when he knocked out Cristiano Souza in his sole MMA bout since leaving the UFC. The one-time Strikeforce veteran fought twice in the Octagon, losing to Derrick Lewis at heavyweight and then to Anthony Perosh in a light heavyweight contest.
Inocente has been very active in the kickboxing circuit in his post-UFC life, winning nine of 12 bouts and challenging Rico Verhoeven for the Glory heavyweight championship, a contest he lost by decision in Sept. 2018.
His opponent in Bahrain will be Murzakanov, who is undefeated with six stoppages in seven wins as a professional fighter. Murzakanov was signed by the UFC in 2017 but was pulled from a fight with Joachim Christensen and suspended by USADA for two years due to an anti-doping violation.
The other side of the grand prix features light heavyweight Rimbon (25-13-3), a longtime veteran of the sport who has shared cages and rings with the likes of Alistair Overeem, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricco Rodriguez, taking on one-time Bellator veteran Merad (24-16).