A great chance for Czech talent! Keita knows Sanikidze’s replacement, Tichota is ready to drop Matrix

Oktagon had to deal with an unpleasant situation before the next tournament. The champion Mate Sanikidze got injured and Losene Keita had to wait for a new opponent. Now we know his name. It is the talented Czech Jakub Tichota.

Mate Sanikidze was injured less than two weeks before his first title defense and now he is going to take a break. Octagon had to decide who Losene Keita will face in Bratislava at the end of April. And now it’s clear.

On Tuesday afternoon, the organization announced that Sanikidze will be replaced by Czech talent Jakub Tichota, who will then face Keita in an interim title fight. Still only twenty-three years old, the fighter has another huge challenge ahead of him.

Last December, he faced the Georgian and lost on points to him after an evenly contested battle, and thus failed to win his first title fight. However, he earned the respect of not only Sanikidze, but the entire fight scene, and showed that he is a force to be reckoned with in the future.

And what does Tichota have to say about that? “The first reaction was enthusiasm. It’s a cool opportunity, a perfect opportunity. I’m really looking forward to the fight, I want to be champion. I’ve had Keita in my sights for a long time, I want to fight him and I believe I can beat him,” he expressed on MMA Flight Through the World.

Keita is expected to be a big favourite. After all, the FightMatrix rankings, which promoter Ondrej Novotny also referred to, clearly indicate that. While Keita is ranked 44th, Tichota is only 417th.

“I’m ready to drop Matrix. A lot of things will surprise you. The fight with Sanikidz showed us what to work on. Not so muchon fitness, physically I am ready, but on technical and tactical details,” Tichota said.

Moreover, the Czech talent admitted that he had counted on the match with Keita in the past. He believed that he could beat Sanikidze and face one of the biggest stars of the organization in his first defence. “She’s an opponent that can catapult me to the world stage,” Tichota is clear.

Source: Octagon MMA, MMA Flying Around the World