MMA
OKTAGON 51: Pirate shocked the O2 arena, Vemola went down. The crowning of the champion and the winner of Tipsport Gamechanger. Watch all the finishes
OKTAGON 51 was supposed to be the grand finale of the year 2023. The O2 arena saw great and big matches, and the historic tournament also decided the first winner of the Tipsport Gamechanger project. There were also some big surprises. For example, the fall of Carlos Vemola. What did the tournament look like?
OKTAGON 51 was supposed to be the grand finale of the year 2023. The O2 arena saw great and big matches, and the historic tournament also decided the first winner of the Tipsport Gamechanger project. There were also some big surprises. For example, the fall of Carlos Vemola. What did the tournament look like?
Prelims OKTAGON 51
The first match offered a hard KO
Not much was expected from the first fight, but the surprise of how it turned out was all the more pleasant. Though not for the home crowd who had to deal with the home fighter losing.
Although Tomas Fiala did not go into the fight as a favourite, he could definitely surprise the talented predator Hassan Shaaban with his experience. However, he failed to do so and the whole match was directed by the 23-year-old German.
moreover, at 1:58 it was all over when Shaabana started to dismantle Fiala in the stand-up with precise combinations, which he also spiced up with jumping knees, one of which was the last thing that happened in the fight.
Fiala lost his fourth straight fight in the Oktagon as Shaabana improved his record to 3-1.
Unfortunately, Shorma didn’t make the comeback
Hometown favorite Magda Shormova returned to the cage after a layoff of more than two years. She faced UFC veteran Mallory Martin, who was a slight favorite in the bout.
Unfortunately, it became apparent from the start why that was the case. While the Czech fighter showed heart, her lack of wrestling experience was evident. Moreover, Martin was not an easy opponent to start with.
Much of the fight was on the ground, where the American had the upper hand. She deservedly won on points. Shorma is now 11-5, Martin improved to 8-6.
Roushal scores his second win in MMA
The third bout at the OKTAGON 51 gala also had a home representation. This time in the form of Radek Roušal, who entered his second MMA fight. He was to be tested by the unknown for the Czech audience British Kallum Parker (2-2 before the fight).
Roušal didn’t have it easy from the beginning. Parker tried to tie up the fight and drag him to the ground. It can’t be said that he was not successful at all, but the Moravian puncher had the upper hand in the first round, dominating the stand-up and not allowing his opponent anything on the ground.
The second round was in Parker’s hands. He kept Roushal under him the whole time. He didn’t do any major damage, but his control was enough to win the round. But by the third, he was physically exhausted, and Rouchal made a boxing dummy of him.
Parker could barely stay on his feet, yet Rouchal couldn’t finish him. Fortunately, he didn’t need it to win, because he dominated the round and won on points. He improved his record to 2-0.
Dalisda knows the name of his challenger
The fight for the challenger’s position. It was a duel between Italy’s Chiara Penco and France’s Eva Dourthe. Both of them had fought Katarina Dalisda before and knew very well what was at stake.
While Penco was able to beat Dalisda, Dourthe lost to her. The Italian was the slight favourite in the duel, but she didn’t get her position. In fact, the Frenchwoman managed to control the first two rounds on the ground and scored the match expertly.
Although the third round was a reversal of roles, it was not enough for the Italian to win. Dourthe can now make amends with Dalisda and avenge her defeat. Plus, she can become the Oktagon champion.
Rysavy woke up the sleeping O2 arena
Karol Rysavy and Henriques Madureira took the last fight of the prelims card. The Brazilian fighter took the fight on short notice and faced an unpleasant change of opponent.
Already with their entrances both fighters woke up the rather sleepy O2 arena. The catchy entrances were just a foreshadowing of what was to come moments later. Ryšavý in fact set off the bombs and got his same sounding nickname.
Rysavy had tremendous support from the fans, and he put on an outstanding and dominant performance to boot. It was basically a one-sided whirlwind that turned out to be a first round stoppage. At exactly 1:59 it was over.
Rysavy improved his record to 13-6 and as he heads to the lightweight division, he asked for another opponent. He wants to take on Samuel Bark.
Main card OKTAGON 51
Dracula lost unexpectedly
Surdu was a slight favourite, however he was aware of the quality of his opponent before the fight and although confident, was cautious. This was evident in the match where Paterno showed his skills.
The Italian was dangerous in his stance and was an equal opponent to the Moldovan. It was an evenly contested first round. However, Surdu jumped into the second one better and sent his opponent down with a hard shot.
Skvor dominated the shootout with Zawada
A fight between two great stand-up fighters and two icons of their respective scenes. Daniel Skvor may be one of the posturing elite, but he is trying to do the same in MMA. Martin Zawada is already an unquestionable legend of German MMA and he wanted to confirm that in his fight with the Czech fighter.
The whole duel was more or less standing. Especially in the first round Zawada was able to put quite a fight on Skvor, although Skvor was still the one who had the upper hand. As the fight went on, the Czech star’s better condition became apparent and the German icon started to lose fitness.
This was especially evident in the third round, which he dominated and Zawada was not wanting to get on his feet at all after the fight went to the ground. In the last minute, Zawada was able to apply some brief pressure, but of course it wasn’t enough to turn the fight around.
Thus, Skvor won on points and improved his score to 7-3. Zawada retired after the match with a record of 29-19-1.
Shock at OKTAGON 51. Vémola fell in the first round
For the fans, the main fight of the night. The O2 arena was bursting at the seams when both fighters entered. The tension in the arena was palpable. Karlos Vemola as a big favourite, Samuel Krištofič as a big outsider. However, the Pirate was confident and showed why in the match.
The Terminator surprisingly went into a stand-up shootout with the Pirate, basically didn’t even attempt a takedown and at 1:48 he might have regretted it. That’s because Kristofich finished him hard, imitating Attila Vegh, with whom he had been preparing for the fight.
The rematch of the century takes on a whole new dimension and Vémola definitely has something to think about. He certainly didn’t expect this result. After the Pirate sent him to the ground, he stayed outside on the cage floor for a long time.
The Terminator dropped the score to 36-8, while Kristofich improved to 17-6 and scored the win of a lifetime.
The Oktagon has a new champion
Vlasto Cepo was scheduled to face Patrik Kincl at the OKTAGON 51 gala. It was his chance of a lifetime to win the title. A few days before the tournament, however, Kincl withdrew due to a serious injury and his new opponent was Piotr Wawrzyniak, the champion of Polish Babylon.
Cepo changed from an underdog to a favourite and the Polish fighter was not trusted much. Even some fans wrote that he was a quitter. But in the first round the Pole showed that this is definitely not the case.
While Vlasto had his bright moments, sending his opponent to the ground, Wawrzyniak reversed positions when he tried to finish him on the ground and found that he could control the Slovakian puncher with ease. He thus won the round for himself and his tactics were clear in the following ones.
As soon as he could, he took the fight to the ground, where he dismantled Cepo. Then he won the third round by TKO and another surprise was in store. To make matters worse, Wawrzyniak asked for a duel with the Pirate.
We know the first winner of Tipsport Gamechanger project
The big event of European MMA, the finals of the European Champions League presented by the Tipsport Gamechanger project, thanks to which Oktagon has further strengthened its position not only in Europe. Bojan Velickovic and Andreas Michailidis fought like heroes of their countries for the title of the king of European welterweight and to make history.
The Greek Spartan was a slight favorite in the fight for 300,000 euros, yet he was not mentioned among the favorites at all when the pyramid started. However, he had the toughest possible path and humbled all his opponents. He beat Apollo, Grabinski and Glismann.
Velickovic was one of the favorites. He took on fighters like Surdu, Jungwirth and Kozma. He fought hard for his place in the finals and if he was already shining, his star was getting even brighter.
Source: Oktagon MMA, Twitter
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