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Losene Keita exclusive: ”As long as nobody can beat me I’m happy”
Losene Keita. Photo via OKTAGON MMA
At the final OKTAGON event of the year, Belgian MMA star and featherweight champion Losene Keita is set to close out 2024 with a showdown against his long-time rival, lightweight champion Ronald Paradeiser. The fight will not only have a 300,000 cash prize but the winner will earn the title of Europe’s greatest lightweight fighter.
Back in 2022, Keita defeated the tall and lanky Paradeiser via unanimous decision and on December 29 he intends to repeat his performance.
”He’s a great fighter but I’m sure that I’m better,” Keita says. ”Because if you watch his reach and weight, I could defeat him in 2022 and in the fight I was at 74 kilo. That says a lot.”
Since the fight in February 2022, Ketia racked up six impressive wins in MMA, but also competed in Muay Thai and grappling.
”I’ve improved a lot. I’m more calculating, I’m more technical, smarter and stronger.”
Losene Keita: ”As long as nobody can beat me I’m happy”
Losene Keita started of the year by defeating Agy Sardari in the opening bout of the tournament. He then got a uanimous decision win against Mateusz Legierski and TKO’d Predrag Bogdanovic to make it to the finals on December 29.
”I think my toughest fight was against Bogdanovic,” Keita recalls. ”It was very difficult because he was shooting for double legs every two seconds of the fight. That made ut difficult to do what I wanted to do.”
If the Belgian 26-year-old wins the OKTAGON tournament he will go into 2025 as one of the biggest MMA stars on the continent. He already turned down multiple offers from the UFC and surely knows his value as a fighter.
What will happen in 2025 for you?
”Like every other year; staying undefeated. Even though I’m not undefeated anymore I’m still undefeated in my head. As long as nobody can beat me I’m happy with the year.”
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