Rkena MMA is set to hold its inaugural event this Saturday in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the card features a few prospects worth keeping an eye on.
Lightweight – Davit Lortkipanidze (7-0)
Competing in the Rkena 1 co-main event against 21-fight veteran Leandro Barbosa, Lortkipanidze unfortunately missed weight ahead of the matchup but will command a lot of attention on fight night.
Coming from a karate background, Lortkipanidze actually prefers to get things to the ground quickly so that he can start to work his ground and pound. He doesn’t mind getting into wild exchanges in order to duck under an opponent’s punches to secure a takedown. The Georgian isn’t an especially active guard passer, but he keeps solid top pressure and is able to generate good power on his short punches even if he’s working from full guard.
The 25-year-old is quick to press his advantage when he knows he’s hurt an opponent either on the ground or on the feet, and he’s collected three first-round finishes out of his seven pro fights. Barbosa’s last five losses all came via stoppage, but he’s an experienced fighter and will hopefully provide a decent test for Lortkipanidze at this stage of his career.
Featherweight Bout – Giorgi Poladishvili (3-0) vs. Erasyl Tanirbergenov (4-0)
In arguably the most intriguing matchup at Rkena 1, Tanirbergenov moves up from bantamweight to meet fellow undefeated talent Poladishvili in a featherweight contest.
Poladishvili has a background in judo but has collected most of his professional fighting experience in bareknuckle boxing with GAMA (Georgian Ancient Martial Arts). He returned to GAMA for his most recent outing in July, but prior to that he kicked off his professional MMA career with three-straight wins via submission.
Tanirbergenov has already gotten his hand raised twice this year and has collected all four of his victories while competing under the Octagon League banner in his native Kazakhstan. The 27-year-old is a southpaw that likes to switch stances and relies heavily on his kicking game while standing. Tanirbergenov also has shown off solid takedowns and is a very active guard passer on the ground, where he looks for opportunities to batter opponents with nasty elbows.
Flyweight – Juba Beridze (4-1)
Beridze has already faced some adversity during the early part of his pro career, but the Georgian is still very young and is coming off a win in BRAVE CF over a significantly more-experienced fighter in Weiqiang Yang.
The flyweight showed off his ground skills in his pro debut in 2023 but struggled working off of his back in his sophomore outing later that year before he was ultimately submitted in the second round. He rebounded with back-to-back finishes prior to taking a unanimous decision over Yang, and while he is still a bit raw as a prospect he’s certainly shown progress over his last few fights.
Beridze will get another solid test at Rkena 1 against Ukraine’s Jaroslaw Chokobok, who is 3-5 dating back to 2020 but has 13 fights of professional MMA experience.