This matchup was already planned earlier, but was ultimately rescheduled and will take place in Vilnius. Former 75 kg UTMA kickboxing champion Raimondas Avlasevičius (4-1-1, UTMA) will fight in the UTMA 20 tournament for the opportunity to contend for the UTMA 75 kg kickboxing championship belt. He will face a familiar, previously defeated, but now completely different Akram Belmekki (1-0, UTMA).
This will be a fight in the under 75 kg weight category, scheduled for three rounds.
Tickets for the UTMA 20 tournament, which will take place on October 24 at the Vilnius Arena, are distributed by bilietai.lt, and you can purchase the PPV broadcast on UTMA.lt.
“This fight will only be more interesting – in Vilnius, Avlasevičius’s home turf. The host will have to prove that during the time we haven’t seen him in the ring, he has only improved. We will get many answers exactly in this fight. The winner of the bout will become the main contender to fight for the title against current champion Nikola Cvetkovič,” said UTMA head Viktoras Gecas.
As a reminder, R. Avlasevičius had already become the UTMA 75 kg kickboxing champion, but this title was taken from him, and Nikola Cvetkovič remains the owner of this belt.
Following this defeat in the title fight at the UTMA 13 tournament, R. Avlasevičius returned to his winning ways at the UTMA 17 tournament, where he defeated Sabri Ben Henia in the second round.
Meanwhile, A. Belmekki is just taking his first steps in the UTMA organization – debuting at the UTMA 17 tournament, the fighter achieved a victory against Mindaugas Narauskas in Kaunas.
However, it is worth emphasizing that this is not the first meeting between R. Avlasevičius and A. Belmekki in the professional ring – in 2023, R. Avlasevičius secured a confident victory.
Probably the most important detail of this fight is that it will be a meeting for the opportunity to contend for the UTMA 75 kg kickboxing championship belt, a so-called “title eliminator” bout.
Although when this fight was still planned for the UTMA 18 tournament, it was scheduled for five rounds, this time it will be a three-round fight. After the organization carried out a restructuring of its sports structure during the summer, provisions were made outlining when “title eliminator” fights can be five rounds, and when they can be three.
This time, the organization’s decision was to schedule three rounds for this fight, foreseeing the prospect for the winner of the bout to fight for the championship belt as early as November.
“Cvetkovič is already prepared and, to my knowledge, is waiting for his next opponent. If everything unfolds successfully, without fighter injuries in October, it is definitely possible that the 75 kg championship title defense could take place in November and thus close out the UTMA year with a bang,” stated V. Gecas.
Tickets for the UTMA 20 tournament, which will take place on October 24 at the Vilnius Arena, are distributed by bilietai.lt, and you can purchase the PPV broadcast on UTMA.lt.
