MTFL 20: Lukovic and Kralj meet again for vacant super heavyweight title

A title rematch with a built-in complication headlines MTFL 20: the man who won the first fight says that win gives him no edge.

Faris Lukovic beat Zvonimir Kralj by unanimous decision at MTFL 13 in Karlstad last year. Now the two meet in Gothenburg for the vacant super heavyweight belt. Lukovic, speaking to Kimura, says he is treating it as a first meeting and compares it to chess. "A rematch is always even more of a chess match, which I like," he said (translated).

Lukovic splits his time between Malta and Karlstad. He began camp in Malta and moved to Karlstad a month before the fight, where he trains at Karlstad Muay Thai, the club of ONE Championship fighter Dalian Dawody. He says he arrives in good shape with the game plan set.

The first fight leaned on his distance and kicks, but Lukovic says there was more to it. He claims he bloodied Kralj's nose with boxing and nearly finished him with knees, and he tells fans to expect the unexpected. He sees Kralj as a tall, mobile technician who forces opponents to adapt, and says he can fight in several ways and will do so only if Kralj makes him.

Kralj brings a different résumé. He has mixed Muay Thai bouts with MMA and is a former Swedish boxing champion, so the striking in this fight could look different from last time.

For Lukovic the belt is also practical. He would like three MTFL fights a year and expects a title to help him get them. MTFL calls itself the Nordic region's leading Muay Thai show, and champions Dawody and Linus Bylander have gone on to ONE Championship. The fight takes place on Saturday.