From zero to one hundred in the MMA cage: four women dare to take this path at Oktagon. After a few months of training, they are supposed to have a professional fight in front of 10,000 spectators. The result of Project Y is surprisingly positive.
Mixed martial arts is a mixture of many combat sports such as boxing, wrestling, Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Just mastering one of the disciplines usually takes several years. With Project Y, the Czech organizer Oktagon wanted to quickly turn four women without previous knowledge into martial artists. At the Oktagon 57 in Frankfurt, the participants, who were found through a casting, showed surprisingly great progress and earned the respect of the 10,000 spectators.
The four women changed their everyday lives for the short preparation period. Training twice a day in renowned MMA gyms meant managing work, family and free time. A mammoth task. In a cage fight under professional conditions, with a reduced round time of three minutes, the quartet was able to demonstrate their newly learned skills.
Laura Kirtzel from Bavaria particularly surprised with her excellent Jiu-Jitsu and ground fighting. The 24-year-old wrestled her opponent Sandra Peterhoff to the ground early in the fight and won her back. From the dominant position he alternated between punches and submission holds. After about a minute the rear naked choke took effect and Peterhoff tapped out.
Like on the Playstation
The 24-year-old also benefited from strong support from the coaching staff. “Like on the Playstation” a command was immediately followed by implementation. “That was our plan and I followed it. Do what I’m good at. You can’t diversify so much in MMA in such a short time,” she told ntv.de after the fight.
“I’m particularly fond of BJJ. I’ve been doing the sport for twenty years and my background is in horseback riding. I’m sitting at 750 kilograms, and if I can tame that, then so can a woman weighing 60 kilograms.” Together with her team, she focused on the things she was good at. In the three months of preparation she did not practice high kicks, knee strikes or elbow strikes.
The audience in Frankfurt was visibly surprised by the newcomers at an event with very experienced MMA athletes. There was mostly applause from the stands. “I heard some boos, or maybe they cheered badly,” said Kirtzel. She was bullied at school, so things like that don’t bother her. “Everyone who boos is wasting their energy cheering for the other person.”
Reso prevailed against Tomm.
(Photo: Octagon MMA)
“It’s an honor for me to walk into the stadium”
For Kirtzel, the finale of the project is now coming up, on October 12th, again in Frankfurt, but in front of 55,000 spectators. “So I’m excited. I hope that I can keep the focus. But I think that the point of overconfidence will come. Before this fight against Sandra, we assumed that we were on the same level. My upcoming opponent could I can already see that you can work out minimal strengths and weaknesses – both she and I.” You shouldn’t go into it too over-motivated. She has respect for the possible record setting. “How many MMA fighters have fought in front of such a backdrop – only a few. So it’s an honor for me to walk into the stadium there.”
Kirtzel’s opponent will be Haifa Reso. She prevailed against Erika Tomm by technical knockout in the third round. In this duel, too, both fighters showed very good approaches, Tomm in kickboxing, Reso in wrestling.
Even though only two of the women continued with Project Y, all participants were able to show what is possible in a short time with the right training and instructions. And even if the performance gap compared to established professionals is still enormous, no one can take away the experience of this extreme situation.