Novotný shared a touching story with the king of Tipsport Gamechanger. Velickovic considered ending his career, now he’s made history

Bojan Velickovic has been one of the most likable guys in the organization since his arrival in the Octagon. It’s very hard for most fans not to root for him. It was evident on Friday night at the O2 Arena in Prague, where the vast majority of the crowd was behind him, rooting for him to win the Tipsport Gamechanger. He didn’t even have to attend.

A great end to 2023, that’s how the OKTAGON 51 gala could be described in a nutshell. Apart from the shock of Samuel Kristofic finishing Karlos Vemola, we also learned the name of the new interim middleweight champion or Tipsport Gamechanger winner.

It was Tipsport Gamechanger that played the main event at the O2 arena. The final match was the main one in the whole tournament. It pitted Bojan Velickovic and Andreas Michailidis, with the Greek Spartan seen as a slight favourite.

Michailidis managed the first round better, but Velickovic was ready for that. He managed the difficult five minutes and then turned the match around. In the third round, he forced his equally sympathetic opponent to tap out after landing a rear-naked choke.

“I was preparing for five tough rounds, but I’m very lucky to have great coaches. When we arrived at the arena, they told me that they had an inkling that Andreas was going to get into it in the first round, so I prepared myself for that,” the popular Serbian expressed at the press conference.

It was the first round that was a bit critical as well. At one point, it looked like Michailidis might finish his rival in it.

“There were a lot of things going on in my head. When Andreas hit me hard a few times, I felt it a lot. I thought to myself that I could call it a day, everything would be over and I would have a nice life. But for some reason I decided to keep fighting. Now I’m here, I’m a winner and I have a trophy next to me,” Velickovic said.

Velickovic didn’t have to go down in history at all

Ondrej Novotny shared a touching story with the Serbian star, revealing that the gamechanger for him is not so much the money Velickovic won, but rather the smaller stories behind the scenes.

“300,000 euros is a nice sum, but it probably won’t turn your life upside down. With Bojan, there was such a special story. After losing to Apollo in Frankfurt (October 2022 – ed.), when he lost his father who died, he considered ending his career,” the Oktagon boss recalled.

He is currently under contract for one more fight in the organization. It’s hard to say if it will be a title fight. The Serb himself doesn’t know how the valuable trophy will affect his career. What is certain, however, is that we won’t see him in action for a few months.

Source: Oktagon MMA, Tapology