BRACE 23 Results: Gokhan Turkyilmaz Records 26 Second Knockout Over Kevin Manderson

Gokhan Turkyilmaz recorded a 26-second knockout over Kevin Manderson in the main event at BRACE 23 from the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre in Queensland, Australia, on Saturday night.

Turkyilmaz, who has spent the past eight months training and fighting in Phuket, Thailand, came out of the blocks quickly and stumbled the Canadian with strong right jab.

He followed with a left hook that knocked Manderson to the canvas with the referee intervening, calling an end to the fight.

“I didn’t know he was a Southpaw, so I had to change my stance,” Turkyilmaz said. “I’ve been working on my boxing a lot and just everything MMA. I just want to keep learning.

“I served for my country in Townsville, in the military, and now I come back to serve and fight for our country in the cage.”

The victory was Turkyilmaz’s 10th win of his professional career and second in three fights after dropping a decision to Murad Machaev earlier this month.

In the co-main event, Edwin Arana edged out Zack Hook in a majority decision, (29-28, 29-29, 30-28).

Hook dominated the first round taking the back of Arana shortly after being on the wrong end of a head kick. Hook locked in the rear-naked choke with Arana spending most of the round defending off his back, but survived to the bell.

The momentum of the fight began to sway in round two as Arana reversed the position on the ground after early control from Hook, and rained down elbows before Hook got the takedown in the closing seconds.

Coming into the final frame, Hook worked Arana in the clinch before landing the takedown. Arana reversed the position and had Hook hurt, landing knees from the clinch and controlled proceedings to the final bell earning the victory.

In a featherweight contest, 19-year-old Jamie Mullarkey showed great submission defense in his pro debut to avoid Luke Hume’s arm-bar attempts, before stopping the veteran by dropping elbows with the referee calling an end to the fight with just one second left in round one.

“Luke was a lot better on his back then I thought he would be,” Mullarkey said post-fight. “We were working on our submission defense a lot because he’s very well rounded.”

BRACE 23 Full Results

-Gokhan Turkyilmaz  def. Kevin Manderson via KO, R1 at 0:26
-Edwin Arana def. Zack Hook via Decision (Majority) 29-28, 29-29, 30-28
-Jamie Mullarkey def. Luke Hume via TKO (Elbows), R1 at 4:59
-JJ Van Aswegen def. Kris Spence via Submission (RNC), R3 at 2:01
-Taela Kelly def. Mick Bosworth via TKO (Punches), R1 at 4:10
-Eddie Trewin def. Paul Cavacus via KO, R1 at 0:14
-Ben Games def. Craig Callaghan via TKO (Punches), R2 at 4:02
-Matt Eland def. James Fa’aoso via Sub (Guillotine), R1 at 1:35

(Photo courtesy of Skyline Productions)