(Reza Madadi aka “Mad Dog”. Courtesy of rezamaddog.com)
On May 29th, Swedish lightweight scrapper Reza “Mad Dog” Madadi (9-2-0) will be looking to extend his four fight winning streak. Furthermore, the Hilti NHB team member is determined to prove that his dominant performance against TUF badboy Junie Browning from earlier this month at Superior Challenge was only the beginning of things to come for him at lightweight. He now will lock horns with Slovakian fighter Ivan Buchinger (12-1) at Heroes Gate’s debut in Prague.
Buchinger last fought in December of 2009 and dropped a close decision to Madadi’s compatriot Hamid Corassani. After winning 12 fights in a row, this was the first time Buchinger had tasted defeat. Madadi vs. Buchinger has all the makings to become the fight of the night, as the experienced Iranian-born wrestler faces one of Europe’s most promising up and comers.
In the main event, fellow Slovakian Attila Vegh (18-3-0) will square off with Lithuanian Egidijus Valavicius (17-7-0). While Vegh’s nickname “Pumukli”, a reference to the red-haired German TV kobold Pumuckl, may not be the most fearsome in the game today, his entrance music “Wild Boys”, as used by none other than Pride FC legend Mirko “Cro Cop”, shows that he is one tough dude.
In contrast to Vegh’s twenty-one fights in three years, PRIDE Bushido veteran Valavicius has been fighting professional MMA for a decade now. He will probably be remembered by most fans for his fight against Fedor Emelianenko back in 2003, in which the light-heavyweight made it into the second round. The Lithuanian enters the fight against Vegh with nine wins out of ten fights in the last four years.
In further action, Finnish Cage Warriors veteran Jarkko Latomäki (16-6-0) faces Lithuanian Shooto veteran Erikas Petraitis (20-10-2), local star Tomas “Thor” Kuzela (14-11-0) meets the talented Swede Magnus Cedenblad (5-3-0) and undefeated Finn Olli-Jaakko Uitto (4-0-1) battles Czech grappler Premysl Nemec (5-1).
To squash the rumors of Heroes Gate being the successor to the popular Czech MMA show Hell Cage, matchmaker Pavel Tous assured us that, “Heroes Gate is a new show. Hell Cage is still OK. Right now we are planning their sixth event.”
According to Tous, further differences will make sure that Heroes Gate and Hell Cage are two distinct promotions. “We plan to show MMA combined with pro boxing and K-1. All fights will be held in the ring.”
On May 29th, the beautiful city of Prague once again is home to high caliber MMA fights. Further info can be found at www.heroes-gate.cz.
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MMA fight card:
Attila Vegh (SLK) vs. Edidijus Valavicius (LIT)
Reza Madadi (SWE) vs. Ivan Buchinger (SLK)
Olli-Jaakko Uitto (FIN) vs. Premysl Nemec (CZE)
Joni Haahka (FIN) vs. Vaclac Pribyl (CZE)
Vaclav Samsa (CZE) vs. Josef Kral (CZE)
Jarkko Latomäki (FIN) vs. Erikas Petraitis (LIT)
Jaroslav Poborsky (CZE) vs. Lukasz Bugara (POL)
Tomas Kuzela (CZE) vs. Magnus Cedenblad (SWE)
Pavel Bechtold (CZE) vs. Petr Novak (CZE)
Tomas Penc (CZE) vs. Matus Laincz (SLK)
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