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Comeback at 61! Veteran “flashes” MMA spectacle

Painer's former flexibility (small picture) has been lost, but his abdominal muscles are holding up.

(Bild: Dworak/Wiesmeyer, Krone KREATIV)

At 66, that's when life begins - and at 61, it's the second MMA spring for Karl Painer! After an eleven-year break, the Styrian cage veteran will be back in the Octagon on Friday at the Cage Fight Series at Schwarzlsee. Krone+ subscribers(here our offers) can watch all prelims and selected main fights in the livestream from 6 pm. He reveals why the oldie will "flash" the event in the video above.

Gemma in the box. No, not a call below the belt. Rather, the lettering on Karl Painer's training shirt invites you to visit the "Kist'n" bar in Graz, where the 61-year-old still works as a security guard.

After decades in the international security industry, Painer has a lot to tell. "Not everything is PG," he grins between his sparring sessions in the Champions Gym.

Shoe theft on club vacation
"There were lots of funny anecdotes. For example, a guest on a club vacation in Tunisia once got upset with me that he had lost his Hugo Boss shoes. A week later, he found them - on the feet of the local head of security ..."

Painer's former agility (small picture) was lost, but his stomach muscles are holding up.

(Bild: Dworak/Wiesmeyer)

Of course, it wasn't always fun: "I was attacked with batons and knives, my cheekbone was broken and a bursa was shredded. I suffered a lot of wounds, but thankfully none of them were life-threatening."

Painer deals with much of this in the book "Scheiß Türsteher! The truth about an industry from the king of bouncers". As a self-defense trainer, he has also written about defense techniques and the correct behavior in the event of terrorist and amok attacks. Most recently, he published "Tatwaffe Messer", a self-help guide on knife attacks. "It's very topical, because they are increasing year on year and becoming more and more brutal!"

"Became a real science"
Things are also brutal in the Octagon, where Prainer returns for a fight after an eleven-year break without targeted MMA training. "I'm just itching to get back into it," says the cage returnee, who finds himself in a completely new era of mixed martial arts. "The techniques have developed enormously. The sport has become a real science - also fuelled by the billion-dollar UFC organization!"

The MMA "grandpa" certainly impresses his much younger training partners in the gym. "They are very proud of me. But when I land hits, the youngsters always get particularly ambitious," winks Painer.

How can he beat his opponent Sladjan Dobras (Bos), who is over 20 years younger, in the fight in the CFS Prelims? "He's susceptible to low kicks, so I want to make things difficult for him with kicks to the thighs." Which would please a large local fan base, who only know their veteran as "The Flash". "Because I won my first fight in 2000 by knockout after just 7 seconds. Everyone remembers that!"

Live weigh-in on Thursday
If you want to find out whether Painer is still "the old man", you can watch all the prelims and selected main fights of the Cage Fight Series in the live stream on krone.at on Friday. As a Krone+ subscriber(see our offers here), you can experience cage action at its best from 6 pm!

On Thursday, all "Krone" users will be able to watch the weigh-in and the match-up of the athletes. It will be streamed live from 7pm.