🏆 XFC European Championship 2026 in Rome After capturing his first European belt, Léon Salijevic immediately entered another category to face French fighter Warren Brelleur in Kick Light under 70 kg. And at that point, the level rose even higher. Standing in front of him was a true product of French kickboxing. Warren Brelleur had recently won a major kickboxing gala in Brittany and arrived with an extremely high technical level. Coached by three coaches, he displayed a style that was fast, powerful, explosive, and highly polished. Very quickly, the fight became extremely difficult for Léon. The French fighter hit hard, applied constant pressure, and truly pushed Léon to his limits. But often, it is in the hardest moments that true fighters reveal themselves. It is important to understand that Léon is first and foremost one of the best fighters on our team in boxe libre, with methods and reflexes very close to MMA. His dream is clearly to build a future career in MMA. And under pressure, when facing difficult situations, some of his free-fighting instincts naturally returned. Several times, he grabbed the opponent’s leg to attempt a takedown, which is completely forbidden in this discipline. The referee immediately warned him, and at one point we were even close to disqualification. The opposing corner later tried to use that penalty situation after Léon threw a very high kick while Warren ducked underneath to evade it. The movement created very close contact near the face with Léon’s knee, which would have been illegal. However, the referees immediately understood the action correctly: it was clearly a high kick and not an intentional knee strike. No damage was caused and the fight continued. And what a fight it was… The technical level from both athletes was exceptional. Warren attempted several extremely dangerous spinning kicks that Léon narrowly managed to avoid. Honestly, if one of those had landed cleanly, it probably would have ended the fight immediately.