MMA

Octagon has a new middleweight champion, Buchinger will challenge Keita! How did OKTAGON 31 look like?

OKTAGON 31 was a showcase of some great matches. Perhaps none of the fights could bore the fans. Ivan Buchinger knows his next opponent, Alex Lohoré won and Patrik Kincl became the undisputed middleweight champion. How did the whole tournament look like?

Published

3 years ago

26. 2. 2022

Pavel Langr

Oktagon Underground and a moment for Ukraine

Due to the cancelled fights, the promoters had to supplement the tournament with two stand-up fights under the Oktagon Underground rules.

In the first bout, Ludek Gregus and Marek Lustiak faced each other after a fortnight, but it was all over in the first round, Gregus winning on a technical KO when Lustiak couldn’t get his left foot on the ground.

The second fight was an incredible advertisement for stand-up fights. Radek Roušal took on Michael Deiga Scheck in the cage and lost 2: 0 on points. The Brazilian was incredibly fast, had excellent takedowns and got Roušal to count. The win was well deserved from his point of view. A great performance in a great atmosphere that both fighters deserved.

Promoter Ondrej Novotny took the floor after the fight and stood up for Ukraine, calling Vladimir Putin a criminal as he said war is a crime. This was followed by the song “Bratříček, zavírej vrátka”, which was accompanied by applause from the audience.

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Prelims card

Vladimir Lengal and Michal Nepraš provided the first fight under MMA rules during OKTAGON 31. While Lengál is the orthodox stand-up fighter, Nepraš is the strongest on the ground. This was evident throughout the fight as Nepraš tried to get Lengal to the ground, but to no avail.

Lengal was more dangerous, he landed more shots. Plus, he had great defense against takedowns. And once Nepraš got him down, he couldn’t get anything going. Lengal, on the other hand, almost got the arm bar. In the end, he broke his opponent mentally and physically in the third round and won by TKO.

Denis Farkas and Max Handanagic took care of the second fight. Handanagic was much more active from the start in terms of movement, but Farkas landed the significant punches. However, Handanagic was able to take the fight to the ground in each round, and in the third round the Czech fighter was able to put the Slovak to sleep and won on a d’arce choke.

Jakub Běle and Naglis Kanišauskas have one of the fastest fights in the history of the Octagon behind them. The only 21-year-old fighter from Lithuania knocked out Běle after just 13 seconds.

Another fight also ended in the first round, Jay Cucciniello had no chance against Jakub Bahnik in the stand-up and lost by TKO after four minutes. Bahnik dominated, his opponent only threatened him once. A well deserved victory.

Main card

In the first fight of the main card nothing was expected. Vlasto Čepo again showed fury and aggression and after 2 minutes and a half it was over. However, he had a lot to do himself, Alexandre Silva hit him once brilliantly and Čepo had a lot to do to stay on his feet. In the end, though, he did it and won.

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The second fight of the main card ended the fairytale rise of Zdenek Polivka. He came into the fight with Alex Lohore as the favorite, but he didn’t confirm his role and didn’t come close to a title fight. Lohoré showed a great tactical performance and ended the fight by TKO in the first round.

After the fight, Lohoré asked for a title shot, but would not defend a rematch with Karlos Vemola. He admitted that he has dropped his top and would like to stay at middleweight. He trained hard and learned to work well with the weight. A well-deserved victory.

Ronald Paradeiser and Losene Keita had a great five round fight. Keita was favored, his performance against Rysavy earned him a lot of support, but Paradeiser earned Keita’s respect in the first round. He was able to dominate on the ground in the first round, looking to slow Keita down, however he didn’t gain control after that and Keita was more effective in the standup.

Paradeiser eventually lost on points and Keita became the interim champion, which means he will be facing the champion Ivan Buchinger.

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The icing on the cake in the form of the main event of the evening in a great atmosphere was dominated by Patrik Kincl, who confirmed his role as the favourite and became the new middleweight champion after an absolutely dominant performance.

The first four rounds were clearly dominated by Kincl on the ground, with chants of “bullying” coming from the crowd quite rightly, which Kincl’s dominance matched. The Pirate dominated the fifth round, but needed to end the fight, which he failed to do. The Slovak fighter lost the fight on points.

After the fight he was sporting and congratulated Kinclova. He also deserved applause for his behaviour after the fight instead of booing.