Episode 3: Kincl vs. Vémola! Words aside, let’s go to the cage. A flashback to a fight between two irreconcilable rivals. The hatchet buried?

The biggest fight of the Czech MMA scene is in full expectation. In the previous episodes we brought you the story that ignited one of the biggest rivalries in Czech MMA. The XFN organization organized the fight Patrik Kincl vs. Karlos Vémola. So let’s recap how the duel turned out and what words were spoken while still in the cage.

We’ve already brought you two parts about how one of the most controversial rivalries on the domestic MMA scene came to be. In the first installment, we presented you with the video that started the war of words for now. It continued at the press conference of the XFN organization that organized the first fight between Patrik Kinclo and Carlos Vemola.

The fight took place on June 28, 2018 at the O2 Arena in Prague and the expectations were really huge. The favourite was of course Karlos Vémola, who had accumulated huge experience from the UFC and also had a big weight advantage in the fight. Patrik Kincl was riding a wave of six wins in a row with experience from Russian ACB.

The war of words is over, it’s off to the cage

Then in the fight itself we saw a three round war. From the opening bell, Vemola created typical pressure on his opponent and after 90 seconds he hid behind his punches with a proverbial takedown to put his opponent under. Despite Kincl showing decent defense, Karlos wrung him out on the ground until the end of the first round.

In the second round, Vémola surprised everyone in the crowd and his opponent by keeping the fight standing, landing perhaps more kicks on his opponent in a few minutes than he had in his entire career. An unwanted eyepoke came a minute into the match, but Kincl didn’t complain and the match wasn’t stopped.

Then midway through the second round, another takedown came, and for a while it even looked like Karlos was going to finish off a decent Arm Triangle hold. But Kincl showed some really solid takedown defense on the ground and the fight went to the final round.

Just ten seconds in, Kincl landed two excellent left directives and Vemola looked in trouble. So he tried to take the fight back to the ground, but Kincl managed to get up and the fight went back to standing.

Patrik was starting to feel his chance and most of his punches were finding their mark. Karlos began to breathe deeply and it looked like a spectacular turnaround. But with two minutes left in the fight, Kincl made a fatal mistake when he tried a knee instead of retreating and Vémola got him under again. He kept it there until the end and won the match on points, as he promised before the match.

Vémola won on points with Kinclo and it looked like the end of the story

Then came the post-fight interviews, in which surprisingly mild words were spoken. “That I f**ked up,” said Kincl when asked what thoughts were going through his head. “I can’t see out of my right eye since the first round, so I’m glad I boxed well,” he recalled the aforementioned eyepoke.

“I have to admit that Karlos really has no competition here, nice performance,” he appreciated his opponent’s performance to the cheering crowd. “I mentioned before the fight that I gave up the UFC for him and I have to admit that I’m not up to it yet. I’m going to fight here at home on XFN and when that time comes I definitely want to go there,” he said self-deprecatingly.

“I didn’t expect this speech from Patrik, so respect, honor to the losers,” Vémola replied. “That was nice of him, I expected the hate to continue,” he continued in a respectful atmosphere.

“I’m the Czech number one and you won’t find anyone in the Czech Republic who can beat me. I wasn’t in the best health before the match, I got my health back thanks to Patrik who pushed me forward. I said that I might not finish him, but I would go over him in every round,” he recalled his words before the match.

In his interview, he also approached the organization to start bringing him foreign opponents, and he would not refuse a fight with Slovakian champion Attila Vegh. But the words full of respect surprised everyone involved.

Would you say that the hatchet is buried and the story ends here? Not at all! Less than a year later, the rematch was to take place and the story of the irreconcilable rivalry began its next chapter. But more on that in the next installment.

Source:: XFN, Tapology