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The widely anticipated Ultimate Nokaut 1 event had lived up to its expectations. March 11 2005, held a night packed with action for MMA fans who came to Karlovac to witness one of the biggest fighting events ever held in Croatia. The Karlovac Sports Center Gym was sold out, and many were left standing on the walkways.


Ultimate Nokaut 1 featured matches with local and international fighters. The likes of Valentijn Overeem, Badr Hari, Miodrag Petkovic and Igor Pokrajac graced the fightcard and gave a promising outlook for the night.



Bojan Mihajlovic (SERBIA & MONTENEGRO) vs Marko Igrec (CROATIA) - (MMA)

The event kicked off with the first fight featuring Bojan Mihajlovic from Serbia and Montenegro and Marko Igrec from Zagreb. Igrec displayed very good takedown defense against the agressive Mihajlovic and punished him with a couple of low kicks. Mihajlovic succeeded in taking Igrec down and gained a sidemount and later a mount which he failed to capitalize on. The fight is continued with Mihajlovic lying on his back in Inoki – Ali position, while Igrec was circling him trying to make some damage with low kicks. The lackluster battle came to an end with the final bell and the judge’s decision went to Igrec which was rewarded with the applause from the audience, hoping the next fight will bring more zeal into the ring. It should be noted that post fight, Igrec did not give out the usual respect to his Serbian opponent and his corner, which points out the lack of sportsmanship with some of our fighters and coaches.

Josip Ivanovic (CROATIA) vs. Igor Mihaljevic (CROATIA) – (K-1 rules)

The first K-1 rules fight featured the two Croatian fighters, Josip Ivanovic and Igor Mihaljevic.
During the fight Ivanovic mainly focused on leg kicks and had two impressive high kicks, while Mihaljevic utilized his boxing skills and managed to create a better impression upon the judges and get the unanimous decision after two rounds.

Igor Sijanec (CROATIA) vs. Fabricio Nascimento (BRAZIL) - (MMA)

Igor Sijanec ran into trouble facing a far superior Fabricio Nascimento, an Italian coming from Brazil. In the brief fight, a well built Nascimento quickly brought the fight to the ground, gained the side mount and succeeded in mounting the Croatian who in turn gave up his back, giving Nascimento a perfect rear naked choke to utilize at will. Fight ended a few seconds later by a submission (choke).

Sasa Mucnjak (CROATIA) vs. Ante Tomljenovic (CROATIA) - (MMA)

The disappointment of the night came from the two local fighters. Sasa Mucnjak hailing from the CRO COP TEAM faced Ante Tomljenovic, the heaviest fighter weighing over 130 kg.
The audience was treated to a lackluster match that required frequent referee interventions due to illegal usage of ropes.

Ante Tomljenovic looked very impressive in the beginning, mainly because of his colossal figure. Sasa Mucnjak was praised as a very good and competent fighter, and his Cro Cop Team background led the audience to believe he was a prepared and a versatile fighter.

The fight begins with Tomljenovic charging with his guard open and directing wide strikes toward Mucnjak. Sasa evades and attempts a takedown which Tomljenovic counters with a guillotine attempt. The bewildered Tomljenovic’s coach mimics the guillotine choke and Tomljenovic in obvious lack of knowledge or confusion tries to apply his sloppy technique.

The fight continues with Mucnjak’s attempts of a takedown which Tomljenovic effectively counters by grabbing the ropes not once, not twice, but at least four to five times. The referee gives out the warning and lets the fight continue while both fighters are already breathing heavily. Mucnjak is visibly exhausted from the takedown attempts, and for every further Tomljenovic’s attack he answers with dropping on his back. The rest of the fight is continued in the similar unimpressive fashion.

Finally, with the fatigue setting well in on both fighters, the fight is ended by a bell and the decision went out to Mucnjak, who might not have been the better fighter of the night but had fought fairly. Had he gained the rope-obstructed early takedown, the fight would have been finished much sooner. He should have been awarded with the victory via disqualification in first round.

Neno Alilovic (CROATIA) vs. Damir Mihajlovic (SERBIA & MONTENEGRO) - (MMA)

An impressive display of fine grappling was shown in the match between the town’s local Neno Alilovic and Damir Mihajlovic from Serbia and Montenegro.

After a brief exchange of punches, Mihajlovic trips and ends up on the ground which results in the momentary domination of the crowd’s favorite. Driven with the desire to finish early, Alilovic attempts to punch from the top guard at the defending Mihajlovic. The Serbian attempts an arm-bar from the guard but Alilovic pulls out which throws the audience into a frenzy, but the Serbian’s second attempt is more precise and he executes a picture perfect arm-bar, tuning on his belly and forcing Alilovic to tap or risk injury. Mihajlovic had shown clear superiority over his opponent, and the executed submission won him the praise from the audience.

Sanjin Kadunc (CROATIA) vs. Imad Barakat (ITALY) - (MMA)

Sanjin Kadunc defended his status of a Croatian ultimate fighting legend in a fight against an Egyptian fighter living in Italy, Imad Barakat. The fight did not see ground action and both fighters decided to test their mettle in a stand up war. In a ten minute fight filled with circling and sizing up, Barakat placed a few good low kicks, but Kadunc was successful in doing more by giving successive one-two combinations to the head that hit their mark for the most of the time, and were visibly frustrating his opponent.

The overall atmosphere was left with out a desired knockout, being that the dominating Kadunc was not able to finish his opponent and would after every combo step back and start over again. The end of the fight brought a definite unanimous decision to Croatian, Kadunc.

Igor Pokrajac (CROATIA) vs. Miodrag Petkovic (SERBIA & MONTENEGRO) - (MMA)

A well known member of Cro Cop Team, Igor Pokrajac met his old adversary Miodrag “Pele” Petkovic in an expected rematch. The fight followed a pattern typical for Petkovics’ style. Circling the ring and sizing up for the most of the first round. Pokrajac tried to take the initiative by clinching up, but Petkovic was not giving into the pressure so the stalemate ensued. In a few stand up exchanges, Petkovic displayed his striking superiority, but mid through the second round in the attempted strike, Pokrajac had injured his shoulder and fell to the floor with a painful grim on his face. The Serbian coach had attempted to pop his shoulder back in the place but it was soon obvious that the shoulder injury was much more serious. A brief pause and uncertainty ensued with even Cro Cop coming into the ring to check the state of his teammate. However, it was soon clear that the fight was over. With this unfortunate event, Petkovic was declared a winner and the Karlovac audience awarded him and Pokrajac with the desired applause for the sportsmanship.

Domagoj Ostojic (CROATIA) vs. Badr Hari (HOLLAND) – (K-1 rules)

The praised kick boxer from Holland Badr Hari, came to Karlovac with the reputation of one of the best young kick boxers in the world. He was to fight a Croatian well versed fighter Domagoj Ostojic, who was a crowd favorite and many had predicted him disposing of a 15 kg lighter Hari.

Ostojic came out strong, breaking through Hari’s guard and placed a few good uppercuts and hooks which shook the Dutch fighter. Hari looked for a counter with work from clinch and high knee strikes.
In the beginning of the second round Hari places the lightning fast short hook that hits Ostojic on the chin and has him hitting the canvas and lying on the floor for a few moments in the instant knockout. The referee stops the match and Ostojic suddenly arises unhappy with the early stoppage. Badr Hari proved himself better fighter in one of the best matches of the night, even though he was greatly outweighed.

Kresimir Bogdanovic (CROATIA) vs. Valenijn Overeem (HOLAND) – MMA

The surprise of the night came at the hands of a Croatian fighter Kresimir Bogdanovic who succeeded in beating the MMA legend Valenijn Overeem. The match began with both fighters starting out cautiously, circling the ring, and after Overeem’s attack, Bogdanovic countered with a left hook which sent Overeem to the floor. Bogddanovic went in after him and started finishing with strikes which led Overeem to turn on his stomach and shortly afterwards tap out due to strikes to the head. The surprising victory got the crowd up on their feet and marked the gallant conclusion of the well done fight night.

THE CONCLUSION

The sold out night proved the ever growing interest of the Croatian public in the MMA and its fighters. The next Ultimate Nokaut is taking place at the coast of the Adriatic in the beautiful town of Zadar in August. Hopefully it will continue its upward path to promote the good fights and MMA competition in Croatia and Europe.

See you in Zadar!

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