Ivan Buchinger Looks To Continue Building Legacy
Very few fighters are able to compile over 50 professional bouts like standout star Ivan Buchinger. Buchinger will make his 52nd appearance when he faces Lukasz Rajewski (13-9) on the upcoming Oktagon 59 card on July 20, 2024. Throughout his career, Buchinger has faced many of the great stars to grace the Octagon and cages around the world.
Early Combat Sports Days
Combat sports came to Buchinger at a very early age. “I started as a wrestler when I was six years old. I got into MMA with my friend Attila Vegh and Marian Nagy, preparing with them at the beginning, I later got into professional club MMA Spirit Frankfurt,” Buchinger told MYMMANEWS. MMA Spirit is one of the strongest gyms in Europe with fighters such as Daniel Weichel, “Mad” Max Coga, and Christian Eckerlin among many others.
Making his professional debut in June 2008, Buchinger would go on to start his career winning 11 straight on the Slovak and Czech Republic regional scene. Finally, with a 19-3 record, Buchinger would find himself performing on the big stage of Cage Warriors. Buchinger would score the knockout win on Cage Warriors: Fight Night 6 in May 2012. His next Cage Warriors matchup would be the last loss he would suffer for the next four years. It would remain the most “notorious” contest of his career.
Facing Superstars
With over 50 bouts in your professional career, you are going to have not only good but bad memories as well. “The most mentioned is my matchup with Conor McGregor. I appreciate it even when I lost. But besides him, I had one more match I like to remember and that’s with Mairbek Taisumov,” said Buchinger. This bout was actually Buchinger’s third career professional bout and took place on the Czech regional scene in October 2008.
Later in his career, and still a star in his own right after all those years of competition, Buchinger would face another dangerous rising star in Salahdine Parnasse at KSW 52 in December 2019. “After the match with Conor, I knew he would get to the UFC and be a champion. The same was true with Parnasse,” stated Buchinger. To bunch Parnasse in the same category as McGregor is a huge accolade given from the 50+ fight star.
Oktagon 59 Matchup
July 20th will see Buchinger face a very tough task in the 11-fight veteran of KSW, Rajewski. Rajewski is a finisher with eight of his career 13 wins coming by the finish. He is also coming off of a split decision victory in his last Oktagon appearance at Oktagon 54. “I am looking forward to the match on Saturday. I hope I can beat the opponent and bring a nice match to the fans,” said Buchinger. If Buchinger’s career is any indication of the matchup we will see, everyone is in for a fight of the night showdown with a potential finish. 35 of Buchinger’s 42 wins are by the finish with 25 of those by submission.
