The Cage Fight Series 13 at Schwarzlsee was heralded on Thursday evening with the weighing and comparison of the opponents in the Amedia Airport Hotel near Graz! On Friday, things get down to business at the MMA spectacle in the Octagon. PLUS subscribers can see the preliminary fights from 6 p.m. again exclusively on krone.at – with a veteran waiting in the main fight.
He is 52 years old, has been hitting the octagonal cage since 2003 – and still hasn’t had enough of the tough mixed martial arts sport: Harald Fischer! “As long as I can still call up my performance in sparring, my fights are still respectable and I don’t have to go into the cage with my walker, I’ll continue,” winks the MMA veteran. Fischer continues to train at the Ettl Champions Gym in Graz -Brothers who chose him for the main fight of the Prelims in their 13th edition of Cage Fight. His Croatian opponent Ivan Vladimir is a good 20 years younger “and is very gentle,” warns Austria’s MMA President and event organizer Gerhard Ettl. “It could get bloody.” Fischer nevertheless remains cool: “We oldies are often underestimated.” Officially, he has twelve wins and five defeats as a professional, “but there are more fights, many were not officially rated in the past”. Another time when MMA was still in its infancy in Europe. “My first fight in Hungary, when I had a lot more on my ribs at 92 kilos, it was still really wild,” recalls the current welterweight (-77kg ). “A site fence formed the cage, headbutts were also allowed, and you could kick your head on the ground with your knee. I wouldn’t want to see that brutality anymore. There is a clear set of rules, the sport has developed extremely, it is much more technical. Anyway, I always wanted and still want to defeat my opponent first, but not really hurt him.” Fischer is a sportsman, relies on “fair play” – like the majority of the MMA scene: “99 percent of the people are likeable people, shake after you hand to the fight. That’s the way it should be,” says the father of five, who only does his road work at the holding company as night shifts. “Is better compatible with childcare!” “100 years is not enough”Speaking of children: those of old acquaintances and friends are now training with him. “It’s kind of nice when everyone sends you love from dad,” Fischer winks. His “favourite hobby” is and remains mixed martial arts, which combines techniques from wrestling, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, etc. “The sport is so diverse that you could live 100 years and still not know everything.” Incidentally, he does not see a significantly higher risk of injury than in other “bigger” sports in Austria – on the contrary: “I find skiing much more dangerous. And when it comes to football, don’t expect a straight leg to come rushing at you.” In MMA, yes. Of course, Fischer has already conceded a number of “effective hits” in his long career. “Ribs, nose and toes were already broken, but I count them among the minor injuries. Thanks to good preparation, sufficient stretching and strengthening exercises and the necessary luck, I have so far been spared from serious problems such as a broken hand or leg or torn ligaments, which force you to take a longer break from training.” It should stay that way!
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