Fighters Only : Oktagon 47: Vemola and Langer go head to head in title unification clash in Bratislava

Simon Head

Oct 05, 2023

The light heavyweight titles will be unified in Bratislava on Saturday night, as Oktagon returns to Slovakia with a 205-pound title fight between reigning champion Karlos Vemola and interim champion Pavol Langer.

Oktagon 47 will see 42-fight veteran Vemola look to register his first successful defense of the title he won back in July 2022, when he submitted Aleksandar Ilic in the first round at Oktagon 33.

Since then, Vemola moved down to his old weight class of middleweight in a bid to recapture the promotion's 185-pound title, but his title tilt at Patrik Kincl saw him lose out on the scorecards. That defeat was sandwiched by a pair of non-title fights as he claimed victories over Al Matavao and Lucas Alsina. But now, "Terminator" returns to championship action as he puts his 205-pound crown on the line.

Facing him is Slovakia's own Langer, whose career has seen him enjoy bursts of form, only to suffer career-slowing setbacks. His first win under the Oktagon banner came back in 2018 as he defeated Vyacheslav Ivashchuk to take his career to 7-7. Two more victories pushed him towards the top of the 205-pound division, only for back-to-back defeats to Jorick Montagnac and Daniel Skvor to his momentum hit the buffers.

A win on the Slovakian regional scene put Langer back on track, and he returned to Oktagon in 2023 and scored a split-decision win over Top 3-ranked Rafael Xavier to earn an interim title bout with fellow top contender Alexander Poppeck. Langer went into enemy territory and fought back and forth with the strongly-fancied German Poppeck at Oktagon 44 in Oberhausen to earn another split-decision victory and claim the interim crown.

Now, after his unlikely rise to the top of the division, Langer faces the division's end-of-level boss. Vemola's reputation as a tough, grinding, durable champion precedes him, and the Czech MMA veteran has no intention of dropping his belt.

Lightweight contenders assemble

The bout forms the main event of Oktagon 47 in Bratislava, where a host of Slovakian stars will play prominent roles on an 11-fight card at the 10,000-seat Tipos Arena.

Two major matchups are set for the promotion's lightweight division, with two Slovak stars looking to push themselves towards a shot at the division's champion, Losene Keita.

Former two-division champion and No. 3-ranked lightweight Ivan Buchinger will make the walk for the 49th time in his professional career as he takes on Czech Republic's No. 4-ranked featherweight Jakub Dohnal, who is moving back up to 155 pounds looking to make an instant impact on the title picture.

Another Slovakian lightweight, fourth-ranked Karol Rysavy, is also set for action on the card, where he'll take on the division's No. 2 contender, Poland's 9-1 Mateusz Legierski in another pivotal lightweight contender clash.

Main card matchups

The main card also features a heavyweight matchup between Polish heavyweight knockout artist Adam Palasz and French veteran Sofiane Boukichou, who is set for his Oktagon debut after previously competing for UAE Warriors, PFL, Ares FC, and Cage Warriors in his 16-fight career to date.

Hard-hitting middleweights will collide, as Jaime Cordero looks to register his third straight knockout when he takes on Slovakia's Marek Mazuch. Both men scored eye-catching finishes in their most recent appearances, with Mazuch finishing Italian veteran Giovanni Melillo in the second round at Oktagon 43, while Cordero cut short his holiday to fight on two days' notice, and win by spectacular 22-second head-kick knockout, at Oktagon 45.

Finally, the main card will kick off with a welterweight clash of styles, as Polish submission specialist Lukasz Siwiec takes on Georgian striker Amiran Gogoladze.