OKTAGON 35 Preview: The Battle In Brno

On September 17th, OKTAGON will once again host a monumental show as OKTAGON 35 lands in Brno, Czech Republic. The main event is headlined by current Middleweight champion, Patrik Kincl and challenger Alex Lohore.

Rewinding back to OKTAGON 31 earlier this year, “The Inspector” Kincl became and new after defeating then champion, Samuel Kristofic. The bout between the two was scheduled to take place at the end of 2021 on OKTAGON 30, but due to COVID-19 measures, the bout was rescheduled. Kincl became the new king on the throne, setting up for a brawl with Lohore.

“Da Killa Kid” Lohore also fought on the aforementioned card and the Frenchman made relatively easy work of the young Czech fighter, Zdenek Polivka. Lohore has previously fought for the OKTAGON middleweight title, coming up short against current light heavyweight champion, Karlos Vemola.

In his last outing, Lohore showed why he is going to be a tough test for king Kincl. Early on in his fight with Polivka, he proved extremely illusive, staying out of the Czech’s range, and scoring himself a smart takedown early on in the fight. From there, he did some nice work from inside full guard, and managed to maintain control on the mat. After finding himself back to his feet, he still maintained his composure and kept his head moving, also keeping a tight guard during any of Polivka’s attacks. Not long after, Polivka shot for a single leg of his own, but was shrugged off by Lohore with ease. After shrugging off yet another takedown attempt, Lohore landed a monstrous uppercut, sinking Polivka.

Kincl’s title winning fight was one in which he showed he is a complete mixed martial artist. From early in the fight, he successfully deployed a wrestle heavy approach, asserting his dominance from the very first bell. Midway through the first round, he began threatening the back of Kristofic, reigning down heavy blows. It took him just two minutes of round 2 to land himself another takedown, subsequently dominating that round too. The theme of this fight was Kincl’s dominance on the mat, and I believe this will be a game-plan he looks to utilise in his upcoming defence against Lohore.

British fight fans will have one of their own to root for, as James Lewis looks to mark his OKTAGON debut with an upset win over veteran, Gabor Boraros. “Beast” Boraros is coming in off the back of three losses, making a win here imperative. Boraros became the first winner of OKTAGON’s reality show series, OKTAGON challenge series and has became a huge fans favourite since. Brit, Lewis, is here to spoil the show though, and he explained to Bryan Lacey on episode 3 of OKTAGON Hype just how excited he is to make his debut: “Since it got mentioned that I could be fighting Gabor I’ve been looking and I was surprised really how big it is, so I’ve got to thank my management team I’ve just signed with HD and I asked to be thrown in at the deep end and they’ve done it, they’ve delivered so I’m chuffed.

“I feel really fortunate that this has fell in my lap because I think he’s a great opponent for me, and I’m looking to go over there and ruin the Gabor show because it’s all about him and rightly so because he’s achieved great things in this organisation, but I’m going over there to ruin it all.”

Also on the card is Canadian featherweight, David Moon, and he takes on the impressive Jakub Dohnal. “Hezoun” has previously shared the cage with current Cage Warriors lightweight champion, George Hardwick, but came up short in that bout. His fight with Moon will mark the first of his career at 145lbs.

British fight fans, as well as fight fans from all around the world, can catch the Battle in Brno on OKTAGON.TV.

Main Card

Main Event
OKTAGON MMA Middleweight Title
(c) Patrik Kincl (25-10, 1NC) vs. Alex Lohore (21-7)

Co-Main Event
Lightweight
Karol Ryšavý (10-4) vs. František Fodor (9-6)

Welterweight
Andrej Kalašnik (9-3) vs. Joel dos Santos (16-6)

Middleweight
Marek Mazuch (6-0) vs. Ziko Makengele (4-0)

Featherweight
David Moon (10-5) vs. Jakub Dohnal (10-2)

Catchweight 80kg/176lbs
Gábor Boráros (18-10-1) vs. James Lewis (7-4)

Preliminary Card

Underground Rules – Catchweight 71kg/157lbs
Radek Roušal (19-5 kickboxing) vs. Marek Bartl (10-11 MMA)

Lightweight
Ronald Paradeiser (13-8) vs. Iamik Furtado (7-5)

Welterweight
Robert Pukač (15-10-1) vs. Tomáš Meliš (10-8-2)

Middleweight
Nathan Christián (Pro Debut) vs. Adam Raiter (Pro Debut)

Middleweight
Al Matavao (9-5) vs. Radovan Úškrt (5-3)

Light Heavyweight
Jan Gottvald (9-3) vs. Edilson França (9-7)