When the calendar turned to 2024, Losene Keita was one of the biggest MMA free agents in the world. There was rampant speculation about which organizations would be in on the services of the former two-division Oktagon MMA champion. However, despite all those who may have been interested, there was really only one organization who had a chance at getting him into a cage – and that was Oktagon.
“Comfort zone. For me it was all about comfort zone,” Keita explained of his return. “I think I’ve been doing MMA for eight years in total and I didn’t start another sport in my life before – just MMA. So for me it was comfort zone – I was going great in Oktagon.”
Some of that comfort has to do with the fact that he knows the matchmaker, he knows the behind the scenes people, and he knows how their shows run. However, it also was because he wanted to reap the benefits of what he built with the company.
“I’m a foreigner, but even the Czech people love me,” he said. “I was like ‘okay, Keita, why throw everything away now just because of another promotion?’ So I said, just stay home a little bit.”
Of course the announcement of his return was hyped even more by the announcement that he’d be in the TipSport Gamechanger lightweight tournament. That part of the decision was his way of saying you can go big and go home.
“When you come back, it’s your home. So if you come back, why not go for everything?” Keita said. “I couldn’t accept some random fighter coming from another organization and taking my home from me. So if you decide to stay – go for everything.”
It didn’t wind up being a fighter from another organization with him in the finals. Instead it is a familiar foe in Ronald Paradeiser. Keita won their first run in back in February of 2022 by unanimous decision. Keita feels the second meeting will be no different and is ready to bring the title back home where it belongs.
“I’m going to win. It’s going to end like last time – my hand is going to go in the air,” he said. “If it’s going to be first round, second round, third round – I don’t really care. If he wants, we can stand there for two hours. The only thing I know is that my hand is going to get in the air.”
You can catch the rematch between Losene Keita and Ronald Paradeiser as the headliner to this Sunday’s Oktagon 65. The card begins at noon EST and airs on oktagon.tv pay-per-view.
You can also hear the entire audio of this interview on the latest edition of the Top Turtle MMA Podcast. The interview starts at 2:16.
