MMA
Brazilians won, Rysavy made a great comeback, Kertesz robbed? How did OKTAGON Prime 5 look like?
OKTAGON Prime 5, which took place in Šamorín, Slovakia, offered a great spectacle. Former title challengers Bojan Velickovic and Mate Kertesz were the main battle, but the tournament also offered other great battles. How did the gala evening look like?
OKTAGON Prime 5, which took place in Šamorín, Slovakia, offered a great spectacle. Former title challengers Bojan Velickovic and Mate Kertesz were the main battle, but the tournament also offered other great battles. How did the gala evening look like?
Prelims
The very first match of the tournament offered a great battle. Michal Plesnik took on Carlos Graca in the cage, the first round, which was played entirely in the stand-up, went better for the former, however, the remaining two rounds were won by Graca, who won on points thanks to his great ground work.
Roman Paulus and Karol Kutyla fought an even battle in the second round. Practically the same number of punches, however, three takedowns in favor of the Polish fighter. In the end, however, the Slovak MMA talent won on points.
For a change, Daniel Toledo and Panagiotis Stroumpoulis presented a not very attractive fight to the fans, and it was expected that we could witness an interesting posturing battle. Toledo won on points.
Silence gets booed, yet he still wants to establish a new dynasty. Pucker has withdrawn from his match
The expected showdown between Jakub Tichota, who would like to send the legendary Ivan Buchinger into retirement, and the popular Jann Elonen-Kulmala was much more evenly matched than many expected.
The Finn, who many compare to Premek Forejt due to his appearance, managed to dominate Tichota in the stand-up for a good part of the match, even though the Czech talent was very active from the bottom. All scoring judges scored the fight 29:28 in favor of Tichota.
After the result was announced, Tichota was booed, of course because of his words about Buchinger or Roman Paulus.
Unfortunately, the main fight of the prelims card didn’t end as the Slovakian fans wanted. Robert Pukac took on Christian Jungwirth and didn’t put on a bad performance in the first round, however in the second round the German stepped on the gas and was clearly more active. However, Pukac did not enter the third round and Jungwirth took the win.
In the post-match interview, Pukač revealed that he had not felt well all day since the morning. Although his team tried to persuade him to continue the fight, the fighter himself decided otherwise. So Jungwirth got an important win after three losses.
The main card
David Moon and Mate Sanikidze opened the main card with their bout. It was expected to be an evenly matched duel, however, Sanikidze put in a rather dominant performance, being superior in all aspects and deservedly winning on points. It won’t be a surprise if he earns a title fight in the future, for now he is presenting himself really well.
Matthew Kohout confirmed his role as the favourite in the second main card bout and took care of the first early finish in the tournament outside of Pukac’s withdrawal by knocking out his opponent in the second round.
Brazilians on a winning streak
The main card featured two Brazilian fighters. Kaik Brito returned to the cage after his loss to Peter Knight, and was opposed by Andrei Kalashnik after his sensational win over Christian Jungwirth.
Brito was quite a big favorite in the fight, it was more or less just a matter of how he would handle his opponent’s wrestling skills. In the end, though, he wasn’t even properly tested. In fact, after one minute and nine seconds, it was all over when he sent Kalashnik down from a retreat. Unfortunately, the referee intervened too late and so he gave Kalashnik at least two more punches on the ground.
However, the Brazilian proved that he definitely deserves to be a title challenger.
The very next bout featured the likeable Rafael Xavier, who was challenged by Marcin Lazarz. The Brazilian was the favourite, however, he ran into trouble right at the start of the first round. After that he was more active and more accurate, he out-boxed his opponent several times, but he couldn’t end the fight early.
Xavier won on points with all three judges in the same 30:27 score. Lazarz, however, gave a great performance and definitely asked for another fight. Promoter Ondrej Novotny suggested afterwards that Xavier could see a title fight.
Rysavy makes amends for loss to Keita, Velickovic booed after win
Karol Rysavy celebrated his birthday with a win, but it wasn’t easy. He was originally supposed to have a match with Frantisek Fodor, but he was unable to attend. So Ebrahim Hosseinpour took the match.
Rysavy was a big favourite, but Hosseinpour gave an excellent performance and gave Rysavy nothing for free. The Slovakian fighter had to show great endurance, but in the third round he knocked out his opponent when he hit his opponent’s chin with a knee.
In the main event, Bojan Velickovic was the big favourite according to the odds and the money bet at the bookmakers, however Mate Kertesz showed incredible heart and tremendous physical stamina. He put in a fantastic and dominant performance, but Velickovic won on points.
The Hungarian fighter won most of the fans in the Shamorin hall to his side during the fight. They even booed when it was the Serb who was chosen as the winner, winning 29:28. Velickovic himself admitted that he was surprised by his win and that Kertesz dominated, but he said the damage was the deciding factor.
Kertesz earned a big ovation during the post-match interview. His disappointment with the result was blatant. Novotny mentioned that this fight could be made again.
Source: Octagon MMA
