Silence has my respect, I’m ready for 20 rounds, says Keita ahead of interim title fight

Losene Keita could get his second belt in the Octagon as early as Saturday. It may be a provisional one, but it’s also valuable as it may bring him closer to a second legitimate title shot. His opponent will be the talented fighter Jakub Tichota. What does the champion have to say before the fight?

The lightweight champion has a clear goal. He wants to dominate the featherweight division, where he is also the king, Mate Sanikidze, who was not enough for the talented Jakub Tichota in a five round draw in December.

Losene Keita was supposed to face Sanikidze, but he was injured and a replacement had to be found. Tichota, who was supposed to go into action in May, was the one. Instead, he took the duel with Keita at the last minute.

“I have tremendous respect for Tichota for taking a five-round fight like that at the last minute. Plus, after the first loss of his career. He’s 5-1, he can do whatever he wants, he could have easily gone 30-1, but instead he took the fight with me even though he only has a minute to prepare,” Keita said on the On Surveillance series.

The undefeated lightweight champion sees Tichota as a complex fighter. However, in addition to his fights, he also watches his own fights in retrospect to see his weaknesses and to see any gaps his opponent may see in his game.

“I’m ready for easily 10 or 20 rounds. I’m not going in with the goal of ending it right away, maybe that will come on its own. I’m just going to fight, and all I know is that I’ll stand as a winner after the fight. I need to get the belt so I can move on,” said the champion.

Keita, however, must definitely be a little cranky that he won’t be fighting Sanikidz. After all, he had a bunch of verbal altercations with him, investing a lot of energy in various trash-talks to draw attention to the fight.

They even almost got physical with each other at the now legendary March press conference. That’s why the fight was highly anticipated and few fans wouldn’t want to see this duel between two foreign talents.

Source: Octagon MMA