Jenel Lausa. Photo from BRAVE CF
MANILA, Philippines—Even before signing a multi-fight contract with BRAVE CF, Jenel Lausa was at a crossroads as he pondered whether to focus on mixed martial arts or boxing.
But having signed with the MMA promotional company, Lausa has decided to put all his focus in MMA.
“I equally love boxing and MMA. It’s tough, to be honest. But I know this decision will be beneficial career-wise. It’s a matter of determining the real priority, and my priority right now is MMA and to perform to the best of my ability as part of BRAVE CF,” said Lausa.
While being inactive in the MMA circuit the past three years before a losing effort to Ryskulbek Ibraimov in his BRAVE CF debut last month, Lausa had a stellar boxing career going undefeated in 11 fights with an 11-0-1 record.
His last match was fifth round knockout of Carlos Lopez in September 2019.
Despite that, Lausa decided to choose MMA as a better long-term investment since BRAVE CF can stage fight cards in Bahrain amid the pandemic.
“I have to think long-term. Here in MMA, I can have a regular fix of fights. Boxing events in the Philippines have been hampered by the pandemic,” said Lausa, who holds a 7-6 MMA record.
“I feel so blessed that BRAVE CF opened the door to welcome me back to MMA and resume my career. That alone is already an indication that I have to prioritize MMA.”
Lausa became a professional boxer in 2014, three years after he made his MMA debut, and dreamt of becoming the first Filipino to hold World titles in both cage fighting and boxing.
Though he was undefeated in boxing, he never reached the same heights in the Sweet Science as he had in MMA.
Lausa was 6-2 in his first eight MMA fights because the UFC came calling and signed him in 2016.
His first fight resulted in a unanimous decision win over Zhikui Yao in UFC Fight Night 101 but he ended his stint in Dana White’s company with three straight losses the last one being a submission loss to Yuta Sasaki in 2018.