He was named Croatian K-1 Fighter of the Year in 2013 by a jury of experts made of Fight Channel members, kickboxing coaches and sports journalists. Mirko Filipović, as one of the best Croatian kickboxers of all time, was out of competition.[2]
Combat Press has ranked him the #6 heavyweight in the world between December 2019[3] and January 2021.[4] He's been continually ranked in the heavyweight top ten by Combat Press since December 2016.[5]
Career
K-1
Brestovac participated in the 2008 K-1 Fighting Network Austria tournament. He achieved stoppage victories against Andreas Peters in the quarterfinal and Renato Sini in the semifinal, before winning the tournament through a unanimous decision against Roman Kleibl in the final.[6]
After winning the tournament, Brestovac had three fights in the regional circuit, scoring knockouts of Armin Zahirović, Janos Rafief-Arifov and Attila Mathe,[7] before taking part in the 2009 K-1 Rules Tournament in Budapest. He won a unanimous decision against Joachim Thomas in the quarterfinal, knocked Máté Zentai out with a head kick in the semifinal and won the tournament with an extra round decision against Sebastian Ciobanu.[8] In his next fight he won the K-1 ColliZion 2009 Mladá Boleslav tournament, despite winning only the semifinal bout Libor Polách, as the other finalist, Lubomir Šuda, was unable to fight due to an injury.[9]
In October 2014, Brestovac defeated Koos Wessels by unanimous decision, to qualify to the 2009 K-1 ColliZion Final Tournament.[10] Brestovac scored knockouts of Mihaiţă Golescu in the quarterfinal and Coco Rus in the semifinal, before facing Roman Kleibl in the final. The final went into two extra rounds, before Kleibl won the decision.[11]
Brestovac then went on a 4–0–1 run, notably defeating Jan Soukup and winning the rematch with Roman Kleibl.[12]
SUPERKOMBAT
He subsequently signed with SUPERKOMBAT, and was immediately placed in the 2011 SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix II. He defeated Mighty Mo by a body kick KO in the semifinals, but lost the final bout against Ismael Londt by TKO, after the ringside doctor stopped the fight in the first round.[13]
After a TKO win against Mourad Bouzidi, in March 2012, Brestovac fought the first match, of what would be their trilogy, against Benjamin Adegbuyi. Adegbuyi won the semifinal bout of the 2012 SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III by unanimous decision.[14]
Brestovac was scheduled to fight Chinese giant Taishan in a non-tournament bout at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 Final in Zagreb, Croatia on March 15, 2013. However Taishan was replaced, and Brestovac defeated Frank Muñoz via unanimous decision.[15][16]
GLORY and FFC debuts
He took unanimous decision win against Sergei Lascenko, after being the better and more active fighter during the fight. Brestovac achieved effective damage with punch&kick combinations, with his left kick doing lots of damage to Lascenko's body. Lascenko, who replaced Michael Duut, had moments of danger during the fight, but not enough to take the victory. The fight was held at the Final Fight Championship 3 event in Zadar, Croatia on May 10, 2013.[17][18] He beat Ali Cenik by decision at Final Fight Championship 8 in Zagreb, Croatia on October 25, 2013.
[19]
He defeated Tomas Pakutinskas at FFC Futures 2 on May 5, 2014 after he suffered arm injury early in round one. Tomas was late replacement for Wiesław Kwaśniewski. He fought, on June 24, 2014 in Slovenia against Tomaž Simonič, who replaced Nikolai Falin. Brestovac scored another victory on points, scoring a knockdown in third round with a flying knee.[26] He was next scheduled to fight Nikolaj Falin in June 2014, but Falin would later withdraw and be replaced by Tomaž Simonič.[27] He defeated Simonič by unanimous decision. Returning to FFC, he scored a TKO win against Luca Panto, who suffered an arm injury in the first round.[28]
He became the La Nuit Des Champions K-1 rules heavyweight +100 kg champion by defeating Nicolas Wamba on November 22, 2014 in Marseille, France. Wamba was counted two times before end of second round, when his corner threw towel because of injury.[29][30][31]
FFC and GLORY title fights
Brestovac fought Wiesław Kwaśniewski at FFC: Super Final for the vacant FFC Heavyweight title.[32] He defeated Kwaśniewski by a second round TKO.[33] He was scheduled to defend his title four months later, against Colin George.[34] Brestovac won the fight just 27 seconds into the fight, breaking George's arm as he tried to block a body kick.[35]
He was supposed to replace Benjamin Adegbuyi to fight Anderson Silva on May 8, 2015 at Glory 21: San Diego event, however the Brazilian failed hus medical test and that fight was cancelled.[36][37] He instead took part in the 2015 Glory Heavyweight Contender tournament, fighting Benjamin Adegbuyi in the semifinals.[38] Adegbuyi won the fight by TKO, dropping Brestovac trice in the third round.[39]
Following his first loss in over three years, Brestovac was scheduled to defend his NDC title against Fabrice Aurieng in November 2015.[40] Aurieng won the fight by unanimous decision.[41]
Despite the two fight losing skid, Brestovac was nonetheless scheduled to fight Rico Verhoeven at Glory 28 for the Glory Heavyweight title.[42] Brestovac lost the fight by unanimous decision (49–46, 50–45, and 50–45).[43]
FFC title reign and Verhoeven rematch
After these three losses, Brestovac defended his FFC title against Steve Banks.[44] Brestovac snapped his losing streak with a second round head kick knockout of Banks.[45]
Brestovac participated in the 2016 Glory Heavyweight Contender tournament, being scheduled to fight Jahfarr Wilnis in the semifinals.[46] He knocked Wilnis out with a head kick in the first round, and advanced to the finals, where he was to fight a rematch with Benjamin Adegbuyi. Adegbuyi won the fight by unanimous decision.[47]
He was scheduled to defend the FFC title for the second time against Daniel Lentie at FFC 27.[48] Brestovac won the fight by unanimous decision.[49] He then defended his title for the third time against Dževad Poturak at FFC 29,[50] winning by unanimous decision.[51]
After two consecutive title defenses, Brestovac fought Hesdy Gerges at Glory 45. He knocked Gerges out with a head kick, after 36 seconds of the first round.[52] He then challenged Rico Verhoeven at Glory 54 for the second time, but would once again lose by unanimous decision with 50–45 on all five scorecards.[53][54]
He defended the FFC title for the fourth time against Jhonata Diniz at FFC 31, who he knocked out with a head kick in the third round.[55]
2019 doping suspension
Brestovac wouldn't fight in 2019, as in January of the same year, it was announced by GLORY that Brestovac was one of four fighters to have failed their doping tests, testing positive for meldonium.[56][57] He was given a 19 month suspension, applied retroactively from the Glory 54 event, which effectively ended on December 1, 2019.[58]
Brestovac faced Karim Dian at Glory 95 for a retirement bout on September 21, 2024. He won by first round KO with a left body kick. [59]
^[fightsite.hr/k1-boks/otkriven-i-protivnik-za-brestovca-na-gloryju-scorpion-sting-protiv-opasnog-wilnisa Otkriven i protivnik za Brestovca na Gloryju: "Scorpion sting" protiv opasnog Wilnisa!](in Croatian)
