Mma, Brave live on gazzetta.it: the stories of Cortese, Frasineac and Mircea

A failed hockey player, an “ice man” who met MMAs on the sofa at home and a former worker who became a fighter after five years spent packing frozen pizzas in a factory. Intertwining of destiny, stories from a distance. They are those of Enrico Cortese, Virgiliu Frasineac and Valeriu Mircea, the three fighters of the Italian school engaged on Sunday 1 August in the Milanese octagon of Brave, a stage promotion of Bahrain for the first time in Italy with “The Golden Cage”, a card that will be broadcast live on Gazzetta.it starting at 8.30 pm.

Ice hockey from elementary school, when sport was just fun and lightheartedness. A love lasting ten years, before the encounter with the martial arts and the discovery of a new dimension, capable of absorbing all the energies and a half idea then set aside, that of being an engineer. In the octagon since he was 16, Enrico Cortese da Galio – just over 2,000 inhabitants in the province of Vicenza – is in his third meeting in Brave. Born in 1997, 1.82 for 84 kg, a 7-2 record among professionals and a no contest, he arrived at MMA after an experience in Sanda, Chinese boxing. During his career he traveled to Brazil, the United States and Thailand to train and improve: “Away from home you are alone with yourself and your limits, the mental aspect counts”. Growing up in the myth of Mike Tyson, he looked – with clear ideas – to Cain Velasquez and Jon Jones in their initial contacts with mixed martial arts: “I would steal aggression from the first, intelligence in managing encounters from the second”. ‘The Killing Machine’ will face ‘The Russian Bear’ Rustam Chsiev (4-2), a fighter from Ossetia (North Caucasus region), a historic land of wrestlers.

The nickname says it all: ‘The Iceman’, the ice man. Head coach Luca Cardano guarantees for him, with a few laughs: “I saw that his reactions were always the same from the first matches, victory or defeat for him did the same. And then he knows how to take the blows in an incredible way thanks to a granite jaw, he is flawless “. Born in Moldova on January 2, 1995, Virgiliu Frasineac met the MMAs with a remote control in hand, ending up by chance on a channel that was broadcasting the UFC and the matches of the Brazilian fighter Thiago Silva: “It was love at first sight. From that moment I looked for a gym to train and start playing sports and I found it in Italy (the Cardano Top Team Novara, based in Romentino) ”. Heavy-handed welterweight, Frasineac prefers striking to grappling: “But even on the ground I have fun”. Passionate about American football, today he is a full-time fighter also thanks to the sacrifices made over the years by his mother Svetlana, solid support after tiring days of training. Ice warrior with hunger for victory in his eyes (record of 9-2, with 7 knockouts and one submission), the Lebanese Ahmed Labban will be faced in the August 1st card. In his last match – for the Polish promotion Fen welterweight title – came a defeat. Before this fall, to find his only lost match he has to rewind the tape to 2016 and the match finished on points against Carlo Pedersoli jr.

Five years of work in the factory to pack frozen pizzas, before dedicating himself to fighting 24 hours a day to become a professional fighter and pursue the dream of the octagon alone. Because the fame of “The Solitary Wolf” is not due to chance. He too was born in Moldova – October 5, 1993 – Valeriu Mircea approached MMAs thanks to a friend who dragged him to the gym, after twelve years of judo: “It happened by chance, but I thank that moment because everything changed there “. A lover of the mountains, he arrived in Italy in 2009. He settled in Conegliano, in the province of Treviso, with his family and joined the Roman team Aurora in 2017. A complete light weight, Mircea feels confident in both striking and in grappling: “But the constant goal – he is keen to point out – is improvement”. He already has 33 fights in 7 years, with 25 wins (including 9 knockouts and 12 submissions), 7 defeats and 1 all and after the match lost unanimously in his debut in Brave (against Omar Solomonov), he will face in the cage from Milan the Austrian Ayub Gaziev.