MMA
Crazy night in Bratislava! Vémola made history, legends came to life and new stars appeared. What did OKTAGON 47 look like?
The Octagon returned to Bratislava and the packed card promised a spectacular and stellar show. In addition, we saw three Czechoslovakian derbies, Ivan Buchinger went into action, Karlos Vémola and Pavol Langer fought for the title. What did the tournament look like?
The Oktagon returned to Bratislava and the packed card promised a spectacular and stellar show. In addition, we saw three Czechoslovakian derbies, Ivan Buchinger went into action, Karlos Vémola and Pavol Langer fought for the title. What did the tournament look like?
Prelims
Successful debuts of foreign faces
He was supposed to fight Vlast Čepo, but he got injured. Thus, the Egyptian Ahmed Sami made his debut against Adam Horvath, whom he basically gave no chance. He quickly took the fight to the ground and although Horvath resisted, Sami dominated.
He even managed to end the fight in the first round. At 3:49 it was over when Sami hit Horvath hard on the ground and won by TKO.
Afterwards, Veronika Smolkova, a local fighter and one of Slovakia’s biggest prospects, went to fulfill her dream, with UK debutant Megan Morris, one of England’s biggest prospects, standing in her way.
The Slovak dominated the first round, had the upper hand in the stand-up, defended takedown attempts superbly and came close to winning. At the end of the round, Morris almost ended it with a series of hard punches, only for the Brit to be saved by the bell.
Then the English fighter started to turn the tide of the duel, taking Smolkova to the ground, but she didn’t just give up. She managed to flip positions, but Morris was gaining more and more confidence and in the third round she even forced the Slovak to tap out. After the fight, she couldn’t contain her emotions and started crying.
The next bout delivered the return of the former interim champion, Gustavo Lopez returning to action for the first time since his loss to Jonas Magarde. Georgian Beno Adamia came in as an unexpectedly big underdog against him.
It was expected to be an attractive battle and we got it. Most of the fight was staged and both fighters exchanged many punches, even sent each other to the ground and scored knockdowns, yet it came down to points.
The evenly matched bout was surprisingly dominated by Adamia, who became the third successful foreign debutant in a row. This was the first bout where we didn’t see an early finish. Lopez was not helped by two takedowns.
First Slovakian joy and another loss for the icon
Lucia Szabová, a star of the Slovak scene and a huge Slovak hope, returned to the cage for the first time since becoming a mom. Not in MMA, but under the rules of Underground. Her opponent was Alexandra Andersröd.
A frequent question was what form Silent Killer would return in, however when the fight came, she left no one in doubt that she was indeed back. She is at home in the stand-up and the Swede felt it hard.
Szabova was in control for most of the match, however Andersröd was able to do some damage to the Slovakian star’s face as well. Silent Killer dominated the duel on points after a great jab.
Szabova thus brought the crowd their first home win of the tournament and she couldn’t fight back tears after the result was announced.
Robert Pukač wanted to honour the Slovakian colours with a victory in the first Czechoslovak derby of the evening, but he was up against Matouš Kohout, who was about to make his welterweight debut. It was expected to be an even match and that’s exactly what we got.
The Czech fighter was the better stand-up fighter, the Slovakian tried to take the fight to the ground, however Kohout defended well and Pukac looked clueless at times. Even the fans whistled at times when the fight was not going well.
The duel came down to the points, with both fighters raising their hands at the end of it, believing they had won. However, only one of them could be satisfied and the lucky one was Kohout, who was seen by all the judges to win. Pukac looked disgruntled, this is his second loss in a row and overall he has lost seven of his last ten fights.
The main card
Gogoladze stopped the Pole, Mazuch stopped Cordero
Could there ever have been a better main card opener? It was clear that we were going to see a quality fight, but its attractiveness was uncertain, as Lukasz Siwiec revels in wrestling and Amiran Gogoladze, as a Georgian, doesn’t quite match him either.
Siwiec tried to see if he could do it in the stand-up early on. But he soon found out that this is not the way to victory. He tried taking the fight to the ground, or at least pulling on the mesh, but the Georgian did well, he was able to get up, and when the fight was on the feet, the Pole could be glad he stood up.
It didn’t help the Polish fighter that he was docked a point for illegal strikes. However, the fact that he tried to make the fight attractive and was often in the stand-up even when it didn’t suit him earned him respect from Gogoladze.
Gogoladze won clearly on points, and to make matters worse, he called out former champion Kaiko Brito, who has a failed attempt to enter the UFC.
One of the most anticipated fights, he delivered exactly what was expected. Marek Mazuch and Jaime Cordero are two of the most attractive fighters in the Oktagon, and they proved it when they measured their strength against each other.
A three round stand-up chop had to end in a knockout. In the first round the German had the upper hand, but the Slovak soldier, with great support from the Bratislava crowd, turned the duel around and stopped the German at the beginning of the third round.
Cordero gradually went physical and the home fighter was not fazed by the fact that he was open and bleeding from the first round.
If everything goes according to plan and Mazuch is healthy, he could face Engiczek in Cologne in November.
The Poles are challenging for the title
Another Slovakian iron in the fire didn’t shine so much for the home crowd. Karol Rysavy was hoping to be the first to beat former lightweight champion Mateusz Legierski in the Oktagon, but he was the favourite and did his part.
Ryshavy was certainly not an easy match for the Pole, but whatever the Slovak came up with, Legierski found an answer, stood his ground in critical moments and always added something extra. He had the upper hand in the stance, he was better on the ground. He deservedly won the match on points.
After the win, he asked for the belt, but he is not defending his duel with Ronald Paradeiser, who is looking for a rematch with champion Losene Keita.
Adam Palasz also wanted to claim the title, only to have newcomer to the organization Sofiane Boukichou stand in his way. The Frenchman was seen as an underdog, but went into the fight with the goal of winning and surprising.
He failed to do that. And that heavyweight fights tend to be attractive because every punch can make the difference? Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case here. Palasz dominated the fight mainly due to his ground and pound and would love a rematch with Hatef Moeil.
Don’t retire! Dohnal praised Buchinger after the loss
One of the biggest fights of the OKTAGON 47 gala in Bratislava. Ivan Buchinger and Jakub Dohnal as two of the top fighters in their respective weight classes. A duel that the Moravian fighter dreamed of, and the Slovak legend gladly accepted.
Buki was returning in the summer after a year break and serious injuries, he won at Štvanice, but not that he gave a 100% performance. He admitted himself that he didn’t have that fire in him anymore, but that after his successful comeback he was on fire again.
He believed that the win over Dohnal would add to that. But he had to overcome that challenge first. It was done, but it wasn’t easy. Moravan was more dangerous in the first round, he hit a lot in the stand-up, he didn’t even allow the legend to take the fight to the ground.
However, as usual, Buki is slower to get going and this time was no different. In the second five minutes, all hell broke loose for the Brno fighter. The Slovak was pressing, hitting, starting the disposal mode.
That Terminator didn’t jump in until the next fight? Buki showed that he could take that nickname too. Though his finish was slowed by a punch to the back of Dohnal’s head, followed by a brief pause, the ending didn’t take long to come.
At 4:46 of the second lap, it was over. Dohnal paid his respects to Buki: “Ivan, don’t retire, you’re really good!”
What did Buchinger say? “I’ve had 50 fights, but what I’m experiencing in the Octagon, I haven’t experienced anywhere. What’s next? If I don’t want to, but people do, I’ll have to go. We’ll leave the belts as they are,” the legend reports.
Rematches with Losen Keita, Ronny Paradeiser or a duel with Mate Sanikidz are on the cards.
Vémola rewrites history
A modest man who works in between training sessions and has wrestling as a hobby. Against him a celebrity, a personality and a legend. Despite everything, many fans and experts have mentioned that Pavel Langer could be the one to stop the Terminator.
The question was whether he could stand up to the wrestling that Karlos Vémola possesses. Only when it came to wrestling, we didn’t even have a chance to find out the answer. For the Olomouc native delivered a shocking scenario.
He didn’t lose. On the contrary. He won. And how! He provided the fastest finish in the history of the Oktagon, shutting Langer down after seven seconds with a left hook and then adding a few more punches on the ground before it was all over.
character: “What can I say? I imagined it differently, but a guy has to be able to handle those moments in life. I’d like to ask, even though we’re in Slovakia, no booing.”
Vémola had a lot to say after the game. “We’ve been waiting 30 years for this. It was the first time I fought against someone who didn’t respect me,” he allowed himself to be heard.
Now, he said he needs to work harder and asked for a chance to correct his mistakes. One was losing to Attila Vegh, the other to Patrik Kincl. So at the end of the year he would like to repay the Inspector for the defeat in May.
Végh came to the cage after the match to congratulate Terminator: “We saw a different Karlos than we have seen so far. Congratulations. Nobody expected it. Not even me. But what else are you calling for?”
This leaves Vemola as the welterweight champion and looking to win the middleweight belt as well.
Source: Oktagon MMA
