‘That’s what you get when you deal with the beast’… MMA fighters argue over decade-old injury ahead of grudge match

Karlos Vemola and Will Fleury started their epic rivalry ten years ago, with one of the icons injuring the other. And now, the pair are finally scheduled to settle their differences once and for all.

After a lengthy build-up, the sporting titans will go head-to-head for light heavyweight glory at Oktagon 65 on December 29 at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic.

Will Fleury accuses Karlos Vemola of injuring his ankle

Last Saturday, in front of a raucous crowd at the Tipos Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia, Karlos Vemola and Will Fleury announced their major fight, with the pair trading insults in a bid to get under each other’s skin.

Blessed with the love of a nation and unrivalled aura, ‘The Terminator’ has it all, but he’ll have an almighty task on his hands next month.

With his heart set on revenge, Fleury intends on ending the year by upsetting the applecart.

Ever since the rivals first met during a training session at London Shootfighters, the Irishman has long awaited his chance to put the Czech star in his place. At the Oktagon 63 post-fight press conference, the Dubliner utilized his opportunity to fire verbal shots at the man he’ll soon share the cage with, reminding him of what happened all those years ago.

Fleury told Sporf: “We had the ankle thing ten years ago, you f***ked up my ankle. You say you don’t remember this; you f***ed up my ankle so badly that day. You didn’t even come over and be like, ‘Are you alright’?”

Having forgotten the incident, Vemola replied: “I don’t remember you ever being in my gym, and now, you’re saying I f***ed up your ankle. So, I apologise if I did that.”

Not quite convinced, his nemesis fired back: “You don’t remember? You’ve taken too many shots to the head, mate.”

Rather than backing down, the Oktagon champion took things up a notch, exclaiming: “I didn’t mean to hurt you in training, I will hurt you at the O2 Arena, you know that?”

In particular, Fleury took issue with the way his adversary reacted to the whole ordeal, claiming: “S**t happens. I’ve hurt people too. But it was the reaction. He did f**k all. Caught a good overhand, landed a solid shot, in on a single leg; I was balancing on that one leg, he went to sweep it, I jumped over it and my ankle crunched, I was like ‘s**t’, bad pain. He walks around, says nothing. The boys come in they’re like, ‘F**k, it’s pretty bad’, you could see the swelling straight away. C**t says nothing.”

At this point, Vemola burst out with a one-liner that left the room in stitches, insisting: “That’s what you get when you deal with the beast.”

While the comment even amused Fleury, he’s still not happy, adding: “I went back to a building site that day and I remember the pain. I’m going to make you feel that.”

Ultimately, we’ll never know exactly what happened during that training session, but what we do know is that when the pair finally set foot in the cage together, only one man will emerge with the bragging rights.

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Featured Image Credit: Oktagon MMA