It really wasn’t a good evening for the 35-year-old Kincl. He entered the fourth title defense as a paper favorite, but the home environment played into the opponents’ hands, which created a stormy atmosphere. Cech felt that already during his start. “When I got on and everyone was booing me, it was hard. It was the first time this happened to me. At that moment I had blinders on, but when I was in the cage, suddenly there was nothing else for me,” he recounted at the press conference.
Although the battle saw a complete five rounds, he managed only one better in terms of points. Engizek pulled the longer end of the rope throughout the duel and never once got into serious danger. He threatened himself from his famous attitude. “I felt I was losing. Emotionally. I had a good start, a plan and a vision, but I just couldn’t turn it into reality. The rhythm was avoiding me today. I didn’t manage to time anything right, and the strategy was also faltering,” laments a sad Kincl.
In Frankfurt, the audience MMA record and the offer for Karlos Vémol fell. Will he hear her? Video: Sport.cz
In the end, the Czech striker lost clearly on points, and it is safe to say that it was one of the worst performances of his career. Almost nothing worked for him in the duel. “I’m really disappointed. I didn’t give my best performance today, I only lost because of myself. It’s just my fault. I apologize to the coaches and promoters Ondra (Novotny) and Pal (Neruda),” he shook his head in disbelief.
But if you saw both fighters shortly after the match, you had to doubt who actually won. Engizek was even accompanied to the press conference by his teammates, who supported him due to his broken leg. “Those calf kicks took a toll on me, I hope I don’t have a broken leg, but it was hard for me to step on it. I have to get checked by a doctor,” said the German with Turkish roots.
The failure did not leave much of a mark on Kincl’s face. There were only a few bruises added, which are a part of almost every cage fight. “He didn’t hurt me with a single blow, which is worse than if it had been the other way around. I lost only because of my mistake, maybe I have to change something. Maybe the atmosphere just affected the performance, I don’t know, I’ll think about it. Now I have to get back to the gym and work on myself. I have a plan for the future, but right now I have certain emotions,” lamented the former middleweight champion, who lost his title after two years.
Slovakian Pavol Langer got a KO from Will Fleury. He then talked about Karlos Vémola. Video: OCTAGON TV
“When he hit me or kicked me, it was like a blow from a stone. He was very strong, but look at my body. He had a lot of strong punches, but I tried my best. I fought the strongest people in the world, trained the same. With Alex Pereira or Robert Soldič,” Engizek introduced his training partners.
Both had words of respect for each other after a hard battle, shook hands several times and clapped. In short, they recognized the qualities. “It was challenging, Patrik is a strong wrestler. Normally, when I hit someone like that, they go to the ground, but today it didn’t work out. I still wanted to show the haters who the real champion is,” smiled the new ruler of the division.
