Mocka Takes KOK Heavyweight Title

King of Kings held an event in Lithuania on Saturday, Nov. 19, with the KOK heavyweight championship on the line in the main event, as Germany’s Vladimir Tok took on Lithuania’s Julius Mocka. 

Both fighters fought fairly even first and second rounds, though Mocka nailed Tok with a spinning back kick about two minutes into the second. Tok took Mocka off balance with a low kick, but Mocka was able to recover. While the third saw several hard shots from both fighters, Mocka noticeable landed hard combinations in the middle of the round. Mocka knocked Tok into the ropes, but the bell sounded and the third round ended before Mocka could do anymore damage.

In the championship rounds, Mocka seemed to have just a bit more energy to open the fourth. Halfway through the round, however, Tok performed the rope-a-dope technique, showing off his chin. The fifth and final round saw Mocka continue to press forward, showing he had more stamina than his German counterpart, though Tok did continue to deliver punches. Mocka ended up winning the bout by split decision.

In the light heavyweight co-main event, Portugal’s Bruno Susano met Lithuania’s Sergej Maslobojev. Susano took this fight on two weeks’ notice, as Maslobojev’s previous opponent pulled out due to unknown reasons. Maslobojev delivered a combination of hard shots. Susano, however, had some shots of his own to throw, and expertly blocked several of the Lithuanian’s shots. Maslobojev managed to knock Susano loopy on the ropes, but Susano told him to continue to bring on the shots. Susano managed to retreat and taunt Maslobojev, but the Lithuanian continued to rain down shots. Despite protests from Susano, the referee, however, had seen enough and stopped the bout, giving Maslobojev the controversial TKO win 1:37 into round two.

Two Lithuanian fighters, Karolis Liukaitis and Valdemar Kulda, competed in a middleweight fight. Liukaitis attempted two spinning backfists about 30 seconds into the bout, but ended up slipping to the canvas. Kulda ended up throwing some punishing shots, but Liukaitis went partially through the ropes and the ref had to separate the two. The first round seemed to go even, and the second round was going the same way. Kulda, however, seemed to get a couple of more power shots in late in the second. Kulda, however, did see quite a couple of verbal warnings for a late spin during a technique and an illegal knee. Both fighters came out firing in the third round, and each was the victim of a slip during the first minute. Kulda utilized a hit-and-move game in the final minute of the third, frustrating his opponent, and showed he can take whatever Liukaitis threw at him. The judges, however, ruled that the result after three rounds was a draw, and an extra round would be needed. Kulda seemed to have more stamina in the tank, as he threw several hard shots throughout the round that Liukaitis ate. Liukaitis tried to fight back in the last minute, but it was not enough, and Kulda won the judges’ decision.

A lot of leg kicks were thrown to open up the lightweight fight between Georgios Kostandes and Tadas Jonkus. Both fighters closed out their first round with combinations and single hard shots. Both fighters seemed to be even again for most of the second with clean shots, though Jonkus nailed Kostandes with a three-punch combination during the second minute. Kostandes went down on the canvas, but it was only a slip. Kostandes slipped again within the opening 20 seconds of the final round. In the second minute of the round, Jonkus delivered several blows to get Kostandes to retreat into a corner. Both fighters closed out the bout trading hard shots, but Jonkus did just enough to take a decision victory.

Igor Osinin managed to land a hard front kick to the face of Mansour Yaqubi in the first minute of their opening featherweight fight. Osinin followed it up with several shots before the two were separated. Yaqubi hit two flying knees on Osinin during the second minute of round one, but Osinin retaliated with a few hard shots of his own. Both fighters came out for the second round throwing evenly hard shots and moving around the ring. A blocked kick from Osinin landed him on the canvas, but it was not ruled a knockdown since Osinin threw the shot. Both fighters traded combinations to close out the second round. Both fighters also had just about an even first two minutes of the third round, though Yaqubi noticeably had developed a small cut on his head. In the last minute, Yaqubi worked on Osinin’s legs, delivering several low kicks. Igor Osinin won the bout by unanimous decision in a bout where the crowd praised both fighters.