Burgas is hosting a glamorous gala, bringing together dozens of martial arts champions. On Saturday, 24 August, the prestigious MMA organization is holding a BRAVE 86competition with some of the most prominent world names in MMA taking part.

At Arena Burgas they will be vying against the top fighters from Bulgaria, among them Greco-Roman wrestling champion from Paris 2024 Semen Novikov, Blagoy “Baga” Ivanov, Kubrat Pulev, world sambo champions Rumen and Rossen Dimitrov. Sambo contestants of different generations will be taking part, as well as world and European champions in karate, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu etc. A host of VIP guests will be arriving in Burgas for the event, among them Bulgaria’s Olympic champion from the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich Georgi Markov. One more thing Markov became famous for was an incident during the European Championship in Sweden in 1984 when he was coach of the national team. During a match, a man carrying a bunch of flowers came up on the mat with a rifle hidden behind the flowers. Panic broke out and Georgi Markov was the only one to have kept his cool – coming up behind the terrorist and knocking the weapon out of his hands. For this act he received two awards – from UNESCO and the World Wrestling Federation.

Compiled by Gergana Mancheva
Translated and posted by Milena Daynova