Prague, Czech Republic will play host to one of the biggest events in Oktagon MMA history as one of the promotion’s biggest rivalries comes to a head at the O2 Arena.
Oktagon middleweight champion Patrik Kincl will put his 185-pound title on the line in the main event as he faces his old adversary, and current light heavyweight champion, Karlos Vemola.
It’s a rematch of a bout that took place at the same venue back in the summer of 2018. Vemola took the victory on the scorecards on that occasion, and “The Terminator” plans on repeating the feat as he bids to become a simultaneous two-division champion.
That defeat snapped a seven-fight unbeaten streak for Kincl, and has seemingly spurred him on to greater things. “The Inspector” has lost just once in his eight bouts since that first meeting with Vemola as he captured the Oktagon middleweight title with victory over Samuel Kristofic at Oktagon 31 in February 2022.
A successful title defense followed, as he defeated UK-based French contender Alex Lohore at Oktagon 35 last September.
A planned rematch with Vemola was set for December 30 last year, only for serious health issues to rule Vemola out of the event.Those issues, related to inflammation, left Vemola hospitalized with major concerns about his health. Thankfully, he eventually made a full recovery and is now ready to take on Kincl in their eagerly-anticipated rematch.
Put simply, Vemola is the face of Oktagon MMA. The Czech powerhouse fought on the UK scene before earning a contract with the UFC in 2010, but at the time he found consistency hard to come by as he alternated wins and losses through his first five UFC bouts. His final appearance, a submission loss to Caio Magalhaes, saw him fall to back-to-back defeats for the first time in his career and he was later released.
Vemola then returned to the regional scene and competed in his native Czech Republic, as well as the UK, where he trained with the London Shootfighters gym. He quickly found his form and has lost twice in his last 27 bouts.
Vemola now stands as a 10-fight veteran of Oktagon MMA, and remains undefeated for the promotion. He’s seen the scorecards just twice in that run, and is riding a remarkable seven-fight win streak, with his last four victories coming via submission. Indeed, six of those seven wins have come via tapout.
During that run, he won the Oktagon middleweight title, but later vacated the belt after missing weight for his first title defense. That prompted him to move up to 205 pounds, where he captured the vacant light heavyweight title with a first-round arm-triangle finish of Aleksandar Ilic at Oktagon 34.
Now he’s dropping back down to 185 pounds to challenge Kincl for the title he never lost inside the cage in arguably the biggest title fight in Oktagon MMA history.
Oktagon 43 streams live on DAZN and via Oktagon.tv