Slovakian MMA veteran Ivan Buchinger battled through a tough opening round to secure a win in front of his home country on Saturday night.
Buchinger put together a comeback win against Hafeni Nafuka this weekend, coming back from a rough opening round to earn a stoppage win in the main event of OKTAGON 63 from the Tipos Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Nafuka gained a lead early in the fight but saw the tables suddenly turn shortly thereafter due to a sudden sequence on the ground.
Nafuka won the opening round with sharp striking. His crisp boxing put Buchinger in trouble early, as a right hand dropped the experienced lightweight just two minutes into the bout. Later in the round, another hard right hand rocked the head of Buchinger back once again.
Nafuka picked up takedowns in between his notable stand-up moments, although he failed to keep Buchinger down for a significant portion of time. Instead, Buchinger would quickly spring back up to his feet shortly after each moment of wrestling.
While Nafuka had an impressive opening round, he started to lose grip of the fight as it progressed. As cardio started to seemingly become an issue, Nafuka’s strategy of wrestling Buchinger to the mat started to backfire.
Buchinger capitalized on a sloppy takedown attempt from Nafuka halfway through the second round, beginning the fight’s finishing sequence. Buchinger was able to reverse Nafuka’s attempt and gain top control, providing an opportunity to score with ground and pound.
Up on his feet, Buchinger threw down impactful punches against a grounded Nafuka. The punches were clearly getting through and hurting Nafuka, who started to shell up to protect himself. Eventually, enough strikes were connected for the referee to step in and end the bout.
Former OKTAGON Featherweight Champion Buchinger returned to the win column with his performance this weekend, coming back just two months after losing to Lom-Ali Eskiev in the main event of a September card. Buchinger put his gloves on the mat after the fight to signify retirement from MMA, but then walked back his decision and retrieved his gloves from the ground.
Nafuka ends his year with a pair of wins and two losses. He started the year by taking his first-ever pro loss, competing as part of OKTAGON’s ongoing 16-man lightweight bracket. He then bounced back with two wins, including a victory over prospect Arijan Topallaj as part of the promotion’s stadium show last month.
Earlier in the night, former UFC talent Zhalgas Zhumagulov put together a three-round mauling against Aaron Aby, winning convincingly on scorecards after three rounds. The performance puts Zhumagulov next in line to face current OKTAGON Flyweight Champion Sam Creasey.
Here are the quick results from Saturday’s show:
Main Card (12:00PM EST / 6:00PM CET) (OKTAGON PPV)
Bout 10: Ivan Buchinger def. Hafeni Nafuka via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 3:23)
Bout 9: Leandro Silva def. Mate Kertesz via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 8: Robert Pukac def. Ammari Diedrick via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 7: Gjoni Palokaj def. Karol Rysavy via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 6: Damien Lapilus def. Frantisek Fodor via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 1:19)
Bout 5: Zhalgas Zhumagulov def. Aaron Aby via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 4: Jack Maguire def. Radek Rousal via Submission, Triangle Choke (RD 2, 2:44)
Bout 3: Roman Paulus def. Janne Elonen-Kulmala via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 3, 2:12)
Bout 2: Veronika Smolkova def. Mileide Simplicio via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 1:06)
Bout 1: Tomas Ciganik def. Kevin Enz via Decision, Unanimous
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