MMA.bg on EFA 2: a world title for Nakovski, a first loss for Koprivlenski in his new division

In its EFA 2 recap, MMA.bg focused on two stories from the night at ASICS Arena: Simeon Nakovski's historic world title and Martin Koprivlenski's first defeat since moving up to 83.9 kg. The outlet also noted the rich card with many Bulgarian fighters.

Pleven's Nakovski won the WKN super featherweight belt against Italy's Angelo Fiamingo. As MMA.bg described it, he opened with heavy boxing combinations and pinned his opponent against the ropes, then switched to low kicks and front kicks. The finish came towards the end of the third round: an accurate right hook to the chin dropped Fiamingo, a left hook brought a second knockdown, and after the third the referee stopped the fight.

In the main event Koprivlenski lost a split decision to Ilyas Chakir after five rounds under K-1 rules. It was the first fight in the new division for the 23-year-old from Burgas, who is trained by Mario and Teodora Kirilovi. He worked well from the southpaw stance and mixed hooks with uppercuts, but in the second round he was dropped by a left hook. His strong fifth round, backed by chants of "Bulgarians, heroes!" from the stands, was not enough, and according to MMA.bg the knockdown decided the outcome.

Mitko Iliev from Stara Zagora returned to the ring after a year away and beat Samir Nezla by unanimous decision. He pushed forward with heavy low kicks, dropped Nezla with a quick left hook early in the second round, and in the final round protected his lead with good defence and smart counters.

In the main support bout, MMA fighter Aleksandar Hristov made a Muay Thai debut that ended in the first round. The Vladislav Kanchev student came forward boldly, but the experienced Turk Erdem Dincer waited patiently for his moment and knocked him out with an elbow. Hristov had taken the fight only a week before the gala.

Among the other results, Kaloyan Georgiev knocked out Mauri Smit in the first round and Silviu Vitez beat Riccardo Cristiani by TKO in the second. Stanislav Kazantsev, Dmitro Vlasuk, Tymur Brykov and Diyan Dimitrov won unanimous decisions over Alexander Ribnikov, João Silva, Konstantin Stoikov and Anouar Chakir respectively. Daria Kirilova beat Stanimira Castillo by first-round KO.