A star was born, despite the loss. She was in the hospital for a week before the game, then won the hearts of the fans. Next time I’ll celebrate, says Smolkova

Veronika Smolkova writes a wonderful story. The Slovakian hopeful enjoyed her dream debut on Saturday in Bratislava at the Oktagon, but unfortunately lost. In an interview with Ruik immediately after the fight, she revealed that she was in the hospital for a week before the fight, and described her feelings.

Smolkova writes a beautiful story

One of the biggest prospects of the Slovak MMA scene, a friend of the popular Lucie Szabová and probably the new star of the Czechoslovak audience. Until recently Veronika Smolkova was a relatively unknown fighter, now she has won the hearts and sympathies of her fans.

Until now, she has fought professionally abroad, but has dreamed of one day fighting in the Octagon. Before the tournament in Bratislava, she even revealed that she once took a photo with promoter Ondrej Novotny as a fan at one of the tournaments where she fought as an amateur.

But now she has already made her debut in his organization. She was already winning fans before the tournament. She gave out smiles, positive energy, good mood. Smolkova is just too likable not to root for.

And she didn’t look bad in the cage at first. She came close to finishing her opponent Megan Morris in the first round, only for the Englishwoman to be saved by the bell.

“I was feeling like it was over and that I had won, that the gong was the end of the fight, but then I realised that it wasn’t and I had to move on. So I kept fighting and in the third round a moment of inattention cost me the match,” she expressed in an interview with Ruik.

As she hinted, a moment of inattention cost her the win in the third round. The Brit put on an armbar and the Slovakian fighter tapped out. “At that moment, time completely slowed down. I had a moment to think if it was worth the injury,” she said.

“I already knew I had no way to pull that arm out. I knew I still wanted to wrestle, and a hand injury like that could put me out of action for six months. And I don’t want that. I just want to get myself together, go to camps,” she added, interrupted at that moment by the victory celebration of Matthew Kohout, who beat Rob Pukac. “Someone here is celebrating a win, next time it will be me,” she remarked with a smile on her face.

A week before the fight, she was on call

“Emotions were high. It was my dream to wrestle here. I expected the dream to turn out differently. But I’m a fighter. I will fight until the end. At least I still have like 15 more years to go,” she tried to look for positives, even though it was clear that she was very sorry for the loss.

After all, she couldn’t stop tears after the end of the match. However, it is worth mentioning that Morris picked herself up after the first round. Did the Slovakian hopeful think that the first round bell ended the fight in her favour? Apparently not.

“I was motivated to go forward after that. We knew she was a heartthrob opponent and would go forward. Every match she fought like that, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Itwas a matter of who had more heart and sporting luck,” says Smolkova.

While she rejected all takedown attempts in the first round, things started to change in the second, culminating in the third. What changed that suddenly started to work for the Englishwoman? “Good question for the coaches to answer. My answer now is that the problem was everywhere. But we have to look at it, see it.”

It’s worth noting that Smolkova admitted that she could have been a little bit better conditionally in the match if it wasn’t for one major inconvenience: “I believed I was conditioned well. I had the intestinal flu last week until Sunday and I was in the hospital emergency room for infusions, but I still believed that if I had a fighting heart, it would be enough and that I could do it maybe without the fitness I normally have.”

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. But now I know that the next time I’m sick, I can’t take a risk like that and go into the fight. That’s a lesson for me too,” she added.

What’s next?

It is not clear when we will see the promising Slovak in action again. Smolkova herself, however, wants to fight this year: “If the offer comes, I will take it right away. I want to fight a million percent this year.”

“The atmosphere was amazing, I have family and friends here, a lot of people came to support me. Even people I don’t know supported me. I was pleasantly surprised. Even though I lost, people come to see me, take pictures with me. It’s an indescribable feeling. I’m so happy for that. I’m even more sorry that it didn’t work out, but that’s the life of an athlete and a fighter,” she summed up the tournament in a nutshell.

“It was my dream to be in the Octagon. Even in America the atmosphere was amazing, but here I had a family. There’s nothing more here than wrestling. I can’t wait for it to come around again and for me to fight my way to the title I dream of,” she concluded.

Source: Oktagon, Ruik