Keita avoided prison for five years, eventually serving only a week. Now he wants to go through Paradeiser to get the champion Buchinger

If the Octagon is special, it’s because of how popular foreign fighters tend to be. Most of them, however, have had to gradually win the favor of the local audience. Losene Keita, however, caused a stir with his very first performance. In less than two weeks, he’ll be fighting for the interim title. But what is his past?

Losene Keita impressed not only the fans in the Octagon, but also the promoters in his very first fight. In the very first round he defeated lightweight number three Karol Rysavy incredibly fast and uncompromisingly.

The Slovak fighter admitted that the African native surprised him. He even compared him to the legendary Slovak fighter Ludovít Klein, who now fights under the UFC banner.

It wasn’t too surprising that Keita asked for a title fight with Ivan Buchinger immediately after winning. He’ll have to fight for that one, though. The fighter, who lives in Belgium, has been challenged by Ronald Paradeiser for a title rematch.

Paradeiser and Keita will meet for the interim lightweight title on February 26 at the O2 Arena in Prague. It will be a great appetizer before the title fight between Pirate and Patrik Kinclo.

Octagon presents the fight in the promo video as a good guy vs. bad guy fight. It’s probably not surprising that the good guy is thought to be a Slovakian talent, while the bad guy is thought to be 23-year-old Keita.

Keita and his troubled past

At present, Losene Keita cannot be said to be a troubled fighter, quite the opposite. However, he does have some scars from the past.

The Guinea native used to be a talented footballer, however, he had major discipline problems. Then his friends urged him to take up combat sports. Unfortunately, he also took to the streets, which got him into trouble with the law.

He received a five-month prison sentence for one of the street fights in 2016 in the town of Kortrijk. However, not only did Keita fail to appear in court, he even avoided taking the time to serve his sentence.

He got away with it for a long time. Apparently, he has pulled himself together in a few years, become a better person. Even Kedist Deltour, Miss Belgium, became his partner. But last summer, during a routine check, the police identified him and arrested him.

Instead of five months, Keita served only a week. The reason? He faced up to his transgression, confessed everything, poured ashes on his head and the court took pity on him. So, under strict conditions, he was released after a week.

His biggest punishment was the end of his partnership with Miss Belgium, who left him because of his reputation.

Now Keita says street brawls are a thing of the past. He dreams of becoming an Octagon champion and eventually making his way to the UFC. But at his age, he still has plenty of time to do it.

He currently holds a solid 7-0 record among the pros. In the Octagon, however, he will be facing his toughest opponents of his career so far. Can he succeed against them?

Sources: CommentaryBoxSports, VRT.be, Oktagon MMA