Mark Vologdin is Borislav Nikolić's fight name? No. Borislav Nikolić took the BRAVE CF Bantamweight world title from Nicholas Hwende on 7 June 2025, finishing him with a ninja choke at 1:42 of the fourth round. The Serbian champion had been behind through three rounds before the title changed hands.
Hala Tivoli title shift
Nikolić, 33, entered the bout as the reigning BRAVE CF Bantamweight world champion with a 16-2 record, seven knockouts and eight submissions. He also keeps 120 beehives, and the fight added a new line to a career built on late finishes rather than long, careful decisions. Only one of his sixteen wins has gone to the judges.
The fourth round made the difference. Nicholas Hwende was clean, technical and heavy on top through the opening three rounds, while Nikolić's right eye had swollen shut by the middle rounds. Then Nikolić stunned Hwende with a flurry and buried the choke in the closing sequence, turning a difficult title defense into a finish.
Nickolas Hwende under pressure
The win came after a six-fight run that began when Nikolić returned in September 2023 and knocked out Ali Guliev in ninety-four seconds. He then stopped Eqiyuebu with elbows and punches inside a round and guillotined Cleuber Cabral in the second round, extending a streak that made another championship shot inevitable once the title picture opened.
Those results also fit the broader shape of his career. Nikolić, born on 29 January 1993 in Vršac, ran an amateur record of 10-0 at Titan Fight Team before turning professional, then trained for two years without taking a single fight. He later moved to MMA Tim CDS when university took him to Belgrade, went to the Renzo Gracie Secutor academy, and then returned to CDS at its Novi Sad base.
Borislav Nikolić and BRAVE CF
His path has included setbacks. Brad Katona beat him with a guillotine forty seconds into the third round at BRAVE CF 50 on 1 April 2021, and Gamzat Magomedov beat him by unanimous decision on 6 August 2022. Nikolić has also been photographed working out of Thunder Top Team alongside Duško Todorović and Aleksandar Rakić, and he said of his earlier soccer years, "In a cage you know when someone is about to hit you."
For BRAVE CF, the title change settles one championship fight and sets up the next defense around the same man who survived three losing rounds to finish it. The question now is not how Nikolić won the belt; it is how Hwende, after controlling the first three rounds, would be forced to approach a rematch or the next contender who steps in.
