RFA has had its first gala! Good matches, everything else will need work. How was the first tournament of the new organization?

The RFA, a new organization on the Czechoslovak fighting scene that has made quite a splash, has had its first tournament, which offered a good dose of fights. Leo Brichta, David Hošek and Tomáš Možný were all in action. What did the gala look like and what impressions did it leave?

Amateur fights

The first tournament under the RFA banner kicked off with four amateur MMA fights, in which fighters battled it out for a professional contract with the new organization.

The first fight that took place was between Jakub Batfalský and David Dolák. The fight in the second round was quite deservedly dominated by the only 19-year-old Batfalsky, who forced Dolák to tap out by choke.

Denis Gondjala, who won a professional contract, fought an attractive fight with Samuel Lehocky on points. The first two rounds were staged, but in the third round Gondjala took the fight to the ground where he dominated.

On the other hand, the majority of the action on the ground was between Adam Jakubik and Tomas Skalicky. Jakubik was the more dominant fighter and walked away with a professional contract after winning on points.

The last amateur bout, in which 30 year old Jakub Kuca and 27 year old Frantisek Bocaň fought, also ended on points. The latter won a professional contract for himself.

Main card

The main card of the first RFA tournament included 11 fights, 6 of which were under MMA rules, 5 of which were purely stand-up.

The very opening bout ended very quickly. In an MMA bout between two 21-year-old talents, Martin Horinek defeated Simon Bertovich after one minute and six seconds.

The first clean KO in the history of the organization was scored by Lu Kai, who finished the first round in style. The entire fight with Adam Fidkovski was staged, Kai was more active and looked very good. With a few seconds left in the first round, he sent his opponent down with an accurate shot to the chin to end the fight.

Izidor Segunda then took on Adrian Bartl in the stand-up, he showed he could take a lot, however in the third round the more active Bartl, who was creating virtually the whole fight, managed to beat him by TKO.

Dominic Humburger’s MMA fight with Abilay Ibrayev ended in the first round. The Czech fighter won the fight by TKO. In a high pace then took place a stand-up fight between Matej Trcka and Michal Zátorský, the latter won on points.

A rather controversial win was scored by David Hosek, one of the biggest stars of the new organization. He defeated Bartlomey Gladkowicz on points, but he did not give the Czech fighter anything for free, he dominated him on the ground in the third round, he also caused him a lot of trouble in the stand-up. There were many fans in the comments who saw a different winner.

What followed was a great stand-up fight, which was provided by Jakub Benko and Matěj Kozubovský. The three-round split earned great applause, with Kozubovsky the winner, but he had to be checked by doctors during the fight to ensure his lacerations were not dangerously large.

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The penultimate stand-up bout was dominated on points by Tadeas Ruzicka, who took on Polish fighter Oskar Siegert. Siegert was the third Pole on the main card, but like his two compatriots before him, he also lost. Siegert withstood a large number of punches, but Ruzicka was the tougher, more active and more dominant fighter.

An absolutely sovereign win was scored by Stefan Wojcak in the MMA heavyweight bout. Lászlo Kiss didn’t have time to do anything in the fight, Vojcak quickly pounced on him and in a minute and a half it was over. The stand-up fight between Tomas Možný and Michal Reissinger lasted a similarly long time, with Možný dominating after an aggressive and quick entrance.

After the match, veteran Alex Cverna came to challenge Možný in the cage and there was a staredown. So it is likely that the fight will take place. Cverna has called for a fight under MMA rules.

Leo Brichta and Tamirlan Dadaev provided the last fight of the night. The Czech fighter was the big favourite and managed to confirm his role without much trouble. He ended the bout in the first round when he set up Dadaev with an arm-triangle on the ground and forced him to tap out.

Impressions from the gala

RFA came into the event with big goals and big ambitions. So she rightfully had to face big expectations. February’s gala press conference, which was supposed to be a grand spectacle, ended up more or less a fiasco. But the main thing is the tournaments, so how to evaluate the first one?

There is little to fault on the match side. For a first tournament, it wasn’t bad at all. The amateur fights were an interesting spice, with the stand-up and pure MMA fights complementing each other appropriately. More or less the main criticism could be that there were simply too many fights. However, everyone may see it differently. However, without amateur fights, the tournaments will ideally be long.

Praise should also definitely be given to the functional PPV, which ran smoothly. Except for the sound, which was really bad. And that would be a good place to start with the negatives and bad things that deserve mention.

The announcers, the commentators definitely deserve praise. Neither the studios nor the match commentaries were professional, there were often unnecessary and “subtle” hints towards the Octagon, or inappropriate “jokes”.

Pauses between matches were unnecessarily prolonged. One could definitely do without not only the musical performance, but also the interviews with the celebrities who came to the gala. For example, the interview with Kali certainly did not give the impression that the Slovak rapper was disengaged from the event.

All of the actors employed by RFA pushed the envelope a little too hard at times. It was the excessive attempt at grandiosity that made everything turn out exactly the opposite. Maybe it’s lack of experience, maybe something else.

Special mention should be made of match official Petr Vágner, who was not very creative. Some of his exaggerations or “catchphrases” will undoubtedly keep the loyal MMA fans awake for some time.

It didn’t help much when the host Inna Puhajkova didn’t recognize the fighter Kamil Cibinsky, who is scheduled to appear at the RFA gala in May, before his last fight at the first tournament. Such things simply shouldn’t happen.

If anything was missing then, it was the non-announcement of the scoring and the post-fight cage interviews with the winners. Although, there were two exceptions, and after Leo Brichta’s performance, many people probably could have said they could actually do without those interviews.

Plus-minus wasn’t bad for a first event, but the RFA will need to avoid over-confident statements in the coming months and keep the entire organization focused on itself and its shortcomings, not the shortcomings of the Octagon. The Octagon has more or less got it all figured out perfectly. “If the Octagon is a circus, the RFA is a cabaret?” asked one viewer aptly.

It is also a fact that Oktagon has built such a position in the Czech Republic and Slovakia that it has literally spoiled the Czechoslovak audience. In short, the RFA cannot be measured by the same yardstick as the Oktagon when it is an organization that is only in its beginnings, even if it looks the opposite according to the confident statements and criticism of the leader on our market.

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