From Prospect to Contender - A Viktor Kafka Story

Fighter profile of Viktor Kafka by Speedy Gonzaitev

For some time my fellow managers and I have observed the growth of my promising young boxer-turned-mixed-martial-artist, Viktor Kafka.  In the gym, no one that I had previously managed came close to his ability to pick up skills and absorb information and apply them to a fight.  Recently he has been stepping his game up and proving to me that he has a bright, bright future in the sport.  The first year under my management was focused on getting him in shape, and ready to go the distance in every one of his fights.  After a year of hard training, I signed him up with the Chrysor Champions League in St Petersburg.  His debut fight was set for April 9th of this year.  Coming into the fight, we gameplanned heavily for dealing with his grappling advantage, and I told him to look for the big shot to finish it early. 

Kafka ducks down into range and throws a picture perfect right hook that connects with Sova's jaw. Sova's eyes stare off into space as he falls to the mat, out cold! Kafka does the decent thing and steps back, rather than landing any shots to his unconscious opponent. Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:40 of round 1, we have a winner by way of KO (Punch). Viktor Kafka!

After a great opening fight, Kafka was eager to get in the cage again to test his skills, and after discussing things with the owner of Chrysor, we agreed that KAfka should enter the inter-org 185lb championship tournament.  However, the tourney was slow in developing, and Kafka was eager to re-enter the cage so I entered him into another fight a month later against another grappler.  This time we focused heavily on grappling during training in order to deal with the fight if it went to the mat. 

Kafka drops Seagal with a big left hand! Seagal is injured, injured bad! Kafka jumps in and finished him with strikes! The fight is over!  Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:15 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Viktor Kafka!

After another impressive performance it was time for the 185lb tournament that would surely test Kafka's full range of skills as a fighter.  His first opponent was a heavy handed striker who had Kafka outclassed on the mat but had not shown any ground skills in his previous 6 fights, 5 of which he won by TKO or KO.  Going into this fight, we worked heavily on cardio and Kafka's ability to push the pace and smother the opponent with highly accurate punches to the head and to the body, and, for the first time, Kafka has another weapon in his arsenal: some deadly low kicks. 

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Sergei Dronov scores the fight 25:30
Judge Aleksandr Martynov scores the fight 25:30
Judge Illya Tyunina scores the fight 25:30
In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Viktor Kafka!

In that fight, Kafka won Fight of the Night honors for the one sided beat down, in which Kafka did not miss a single strike!  Kafka is now 3 months into his actual fighting career and he is 3-0 in the cage.  He has developed a good kick boxing game, and an ever-expanding clinch attack that he has kept under wraps until this point.  Kafka's next fight was his most difficult opponent of his career so far, a BJJ purple belt with some quality wrestling to go with it.  So the game plan was to damage him early and hopefully put him away before that purple belt could come into play.  Kafka had recently gained his blue belt in BJJ but still had nothing on a purple belt.

The referee calls the doctor in to look at Dobryi Dag's cut. Oh no, the doctor has called an end to the bout!
Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:02 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Cut). Viktor Kafka!

This fight ended up being the most trying fight of Kafka's career to this point, the opponent was able to get Kafka down twice, but Kafka managed to survive after opening up a huge cut on the opponent's face in the first round.  The second round was a toss up round but the judges gave it to his opponent.  Coming into the third round, I told him to go for the cut at the first opportunity, and just past the 4 minute mark of the last round, the doctor stops the fight.  So far Kafka is 4-0 with 3 finishes.  A very good start for any career.  This was also the first time that Kafka entered the cage after a long stint of heavy weightlifting sessions and bulked up to 197 lbs.  And at 183 cm, Kafka is almost the perfect build for a middleweight by height and weight.  Coming into the semifinals, Kafka faced yet another grappler, but this time we decided on exploiting his weak Muay Thai game and to go at him with a heavy barrage of kicks. 

Kafka feints a jab and as Unit dips his head, Kafka unleashes a brutal head kick that catches Unit right on the jaw! Timbeeer! Unit falls backwards in slow motion, only propped up by the cage! Kafka smiles a psychotic smile as he stares down his unconscious opponent. That is a scary man.
Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:17 of round 1, we have a winner by way of KO (Head Kick). Viktor Kafka!

Kafka then entered the finals, for his toughest test to date on paper, where his opponent had him outclassed in every area but boxing.  After discussing it deeply, we decided to go for the KO early, but that plan failed as we got worked over for 5 rounds of a tremendous beatdown.  After the devastating loss, Kafka went back into training with renewed vigor in order to proceed deeper into the depths of the middleweight division.  However, after deciding it was best to take him back to full time training, Kafka had to face the only man to beat him once again, only this time, it did not make it to decision.  Kafka couldn't overcome the immense advantage Davi held over him.  However this defeat only served as motivation as Kafka quickly expanded his skill set even more as he slowly grew close to the ultimate goal, winning a major title at 185.  However, a message from an org owner prompted me to send Kafka to Helsinki to take fights at 205 in order to help out a friend.  Kafka went 3-0 at 205 with 2 finishes and 1 majority decision.  He approaches his first fight at RISE Amsterdam after many years in the gym, with only a few more to go before the top orgs in the world will come a calling.  How will the story of this young, promising prospect slowly growing into a contender end up? Only time will tell.

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