MMA

Macek didn’t make the title fight! Juráček and Škvor fell hard, Peňáz traded. How did OKTAGON 38 look like?

The cursed OKTAGON 38 tournament lost several interesting matches, the most important one was cancelled, the second most important one lost its champion. Still, the sold out O2 arena had a lot to look forward to. The fight cards did not look hopeless at all and more than fulfilled expectations.

Published

2 years ago

31. 12. 2022

Pavel Langr

Prelims

Strangle survived his own death, Jubox set off a hit parade

Surprise in the first match? And why not? Even the bettors and the spectators in the O2 arena were not too happy about it. Martin Pipek wanted to “chop” the stars of the German Octagon Challenge to show them, but he crashed right at the second one despite being the favourite.

Hassan Shaaban ended up on the ground quickly after a successful takedown, but after about halfway through the first round he retrieved the Czech fighter and started to turn the match in his favor. Tactically, he showed a better performance, a higher fight IQ, and he played with the 5 years older Pipek. He dominated the fight on points after three rounds and can celebrate a well-deserved win.

The second fight has already offered the first early stoppage, and it came in the first round. Radovan Uskrt almost went down after a few seconds, Ole Magnor landed a good right back and the Slovakian fighter “danced”. But instead of finishing him, he tied the fight up senselessly.

Úškrt recovered and then started to get into the match. He was even able to stand up from the situation and landed hard punches just as he was standing, sending Magnor to the ground where he quickly finished him.

Next, local veteran Jaroslav Pokorny went into action, facing a big unknown in Can Aslaner. However, it was the German fighter who went into the bout as the favorite, but Jubox began to grease the bread in the first round. He quickly took it to the ground and dominated the entire five minutes.

In the second round the scenario was mostly repeated, but with one big difference. Aslaner was landing elbows from the bottom position and Pokorny was drawing blood in spurts. But he still dominated and in the third round he again checked the fight on the ground. Sovereign performance against a toothless favorite.

Sovereignly the best fight of the prelims card? At the very least, Max Handanagic and David Jacobsson undoubtedly deserve a nomination. In the first round the Czech fighter survived his own death, the Swede hit him several times with a knee to the head.

However, Handanagic survived the critical moments and then started to turn the fight in his favour. He was stronger, better physically prepared and in the second and third round it was evident. He was more convincing in the stand-up and on the ground, where he was able to dominate. He also fought off all the submission attempts and went on to a well deserved points win, beating the favoured Jacobsson.

Matej Peñaz, as the biggest favorite of the entire tournament, welcomed Joel Dos Santos to the Octagon. The man who defeated his rival Vlasto Čepa. It was supposed to be the last match before they face each other. And now there’s really nothing stopping it.

The Moravian fighter entered the fight with a clear tactic, to end the fight quickly, not to take any unnecessary risks, not to kick and he kept his tactics. After two minutes and three seconds it was over.

The last fight of the prelims card brought another surprise and annoyance for the bettors. That’s because Jakub Dohnal couldn’t keep up with Ahmed Villa, who claimed a move into the top five of the featherweight rankings.

On all judges’ scorecards, Vila won 29-28 on points. He was better on the ground and tactically handled the fight better. He won the first two rounds and expertly took the third. After the fight, of course, he took a dig at Losene Keita, who turned down the fight.

The main card

Dirty boxing, a shocking fall by Skvor and a tactical win by Kohout

The main card opened with a boxing match between Gábor Boráros and Václav Mikulášek. Two big names delivered an interesting spectacle. The first round was more of a feeling-out round, but after that there were some hard shots on both sides. Mikulasek, however, fouled quite a bit, which alienated the crowd.

Overall, however, Baba Jaga was tougher, a bit more accurate and benefited from height and weight advantage. Despite the point deduction, he managed to win on points. And the quality? Understandably, it was not two boxers, so it was slightly lacking, but both fighters gave it their best and definitely did not treat the fight as an exhibition.

A big shock followed. Daniel Skvor, as the home star, was also coming in as the favorite. However, he was facing a nasty opponent, Jorick Montagnac, who didn’t even need a minute to finish the Czech standout. He hit the chin perfectly and finished what he needed to on the ground.

On the other hand, Matouš Kohout confirmed the role of the favourite in the next fight, who tactically completely outclassed Jan Malach in a battle we have been waiting for for a long time. Kohout controlled the fight perfectly, he was strong in the clinches, he controlled Malacho well on the ground.

However, it should be noted that while Kohout tactically managed the fight, Malach did not. While he was able to hit Kohout, he tied the fight up pointlessly and could only regret it afterwards. Moreover, it didn’t take much for Kohout to pull off a submission. In the end, however, he had to be satisfied with “only” winning on points.

Lohore sent Jurek to dreamland, Keita beats Pales

Matúš Juráček’s fight with Alex Lohoré was one of the most anticipated of the entire tournament. Lohoré was a slight favourite and he lived up to his position. However, it was not easy for him. The Czech fighter was more or less given the unpopular nickname “backward” and once again boxed mainly from the retreat.

However, he was able to threaten Lohoré especially in longer combinations, but otherwise the native of France was pressing, trying to kick Juráček’s legs and slow him down. And he gradually succeeded. At the end of the second round the success of this tactic was already evident.

Lohoré then entered the third round knowing he had to stop the fight because no one on his team was sure of winning on points. And he succeeded, sending Juráček to the ground with a hard bomb, where he calmly finished the fight.

What followed was an awesome stand-up battle between Oktagon champion Losen Keita and the world-renowned Milan Pales. Quite surprisingly, fans and bettors favored Keita and he showed why from the first seconds.

Even with such a seasoned stand-up guy as Pales, he was able to keep up with him, catching him with boxing combinations and shaking him up several times.

Pales, however, did not pull the short end of the rope and the result was that the fight went into “overtime”, or the fourth round, when after three rounds each judge scored the fight differently. One saw Keita winning, one saw Pales winning and one saw a draw.

In the extra round, Keita had the upper hand with energy, and thanks to that, he ended up dominating the fourth round, and with it the whole match. Palesh, however, complained, feeling robbed as muay-thai is scored differently. He relied on kicks, which are worth more than boxing combinations, but the result is already a given.

Despite the result, Pales should not be disappointed. He and Keita delivered an awesome and attractive fight that had the fans excited.

Macek didn’t make the title fight with the UFC veteran

Filip Macek wanted to break the curse, but unfortunately he didn’t. Jonas Magard couldn’t make the rematch due to a broken jaw, but Octagon got him a more than worthy opponent. Quite possibly tougher than Magard could have been.

UFC veteran Gustavo Lopez is a very good fighter. Not too long ago, he was ranked 80th in the bantamweight rankings worldwide. He couldn’t turn down the opportunity to fight for the interim Octagon title.

Macek came into the fight very well, threatening in the standup. But Lopez quickly took the fight to the ground and there he showed incredible quality wrestling. He was able to control Macek like no one in the Octagon has ever done before. He didn’t allow him to escape or even attempt a submission.

And when the Czech veteran did try to escape, the American grabbed a guillotine and tapped Macek with ten seconds left in the first round. He said he was preparing for the guillotine, but it was caught so well that the Czech didn’t hesitate long before tapping out.

It was the third unsuccessful title fight in the Octagon for Mack. So now he has to start a new chapter and a new journey for a title fight. For now, it appears that a title shot is simply not in his future.