MMA
OKTAGON 48: Tough endings, bad luck and sadness. The Oktagon Challenge was dominated by good, the title match was stopped by the doctor. A look at the key moments
OKTAGON 48 was the first ever stop of the biggest Czechoslovak MMA organization in England. It can’t be said that everything went well, but it was definitely not a flop. There were quality fights, but bad luck was literally sticking to the heels. How did the gala evening look like?
OKTAGON 48 was the first ever stop of the biggest Czechoslovak MMA organization in England. It can’t be said that everything went well, but it was definitely not a flop. There were quality fights, but bad luck was literally sticking to the heels. How did the gala evening look like?
Prelims
The first duel of the Oktagon Challenge participants was dominated by the Englishman
The OKTAGON 48 gala kicked off with a duel between two fighters from the reality show Oktagon Challenge. The match was arranged while Hascen Gelezi and Aaron McDonald were still together in the same villa, where they also had a staredown in front of the other participants of the show.
Gelezi is more experienced and it showed in the fight. He had the upper hand for most of the fight. Especially in the stand-up he was able to torment his Irish rival, gradually kicking his leg and from the second round it started to be decisive.
McDonald had one chance, on the ground. He only managed to have more control towards the end of the second round when he got on Gelezi’s back and tried to apply a choke, only to be unsuccessful. He was mostly out of action in the third round, and Gelezi checked the fight.
The judges’ verdict? They all scored the fight 29-28 in Gelezi’s favor.
Polívka defeated the British Butcher
Zdenek Polívka was on English soil after two losses. At the beginning of the year, he was fired from the gym and had to find a new one. And he had an easy opponent? No.
Lee Chadwick is known for his quality on the ground. It was all the more surprising that Polívka was able to dominate him here. The first of the Czechs to appear in Manchester, he landed hard punches, controlled the position, but didn’t have it easy.
Whenever Polívka stopped being active for a while, Butcher was able to find a way to try for a submission. But Polívka was able to get out of all of them. The remaining two rounds were mostly standing, with the fighters spending a lot of time on the canvas.
However, Polívka was more accurate in the stand-up, he was able to hit better, more and more accurately, which helped him to win the fight, even if “only” on points. An important win after two losses. And against a man who at the age of 38 had almost 50 professional fights.
Czech, by the way, asked for a fight in Ostrava, where Oktagon will show in the first half of December. He also apologized for what he said was a not-so-watchable fight.
Oktagon has two new interesting prospects
It was supposed to be a duel between a big favorite and a big underdog. Shoaib Yousaf is one of Britain’s biggest prospects. Oktagon boss Ondrej Novotny admitted that none of the Czechoslovak fighters wanted to go into the cage with him, so it was necessary to look for an opponent outside the organization.
The gauntlet was thrown down to Konmon Deh, who was promised that if he showed a good performance he would continue in the Oktagon. So his motivation was taken care of against a big favourite and he definitely asked for the contract.
While Yousaf had the upper hand for most of the fight, Deh was able to dish out hard shots in the standup and didn’t look hopeless on the ground either. The fight was up and down in places, however the home star still won on points.
Two judges saw the fight by a 29-28 margin for Yousaf, with one giving the British fighter all three rounds. The new featherweight star subsequently claimed a place in the January tournament in Newcastle.
Surdu delivered an awesome KO
One of the most anticipated fights of the entire OKTAGON 48 gala, Ion Surdu vs Alex Lohoré, two aces of the fluffy welterweight division. The slight favorite was the first named fighter, however Da Killa King had his motivation taken care of. He wanted to avenge his loss to David Kozma.
both fighters are great stand-up fighters, so it was going to be a great shootout. But the crowd had to wait a while for it.
In the beginning it was more of a tactical battle, both fighters were looking for the right distance. There was a mutual respect for each other’s qualities. However, in the last minute of the first round it came.
Lohoré and Surdu hit each other and it looked like the Moldovan might score a mutual knockdown for the second time in the Oktagon, as he did with Velickovic. In the end, though, they both held on and it was clear that Surdu hit better.
Lohore was driven to the canvas and there Dracula unleashed a combination of hard punches. Lohoré defended several of them, only to have two hard chin bombs miss and Da Killa King went down. Head first.
The main card
“Good” didn’t give “evil” a chance
The Anglo-Irish Oktagon Challenge has its first winner. Englishman George Staines and Ireland’s Denis Frimpong are through to the final. While the former has built a reputation as a likeable guy on the reality show, the latter has been the real bad guy from the start.
It was no secret that Frimpong wanted to fight Staines. He had tried to get into his head back in the villa during the filming of the show, however the Englishman was seen as the more talented and better one, plus it gave the Irishman a great reason to work harder on himself.
Basically, there was talk of an imaginary battle between good and evil and it was clear from the start that good would have the upper hand. Staines took Frimpong to the ground early in the first round and there he peppered him with hard punches at high intensity, absolutely destroying him.
This was repeated in much the same way in the second and third rounds. By the fourth round, however, the fight was over. Staines caught Frimpong, set up a guillotine and the Irishman was forced to tap out. And Staines, even after the knockdown, enjoyed it in his own way. And that’s even more mild considering the way he treated the new king of the Oktagon Challenge in the villa.
Cartwright won after a brutal submission
One of the biggest stars in English MMA. Jack Cartwright has had an illustrious career in which he has notched his only loss to date, losing to Dana White’s Contender Series in a UFC contract fight. It’s no wonder the Oktagon wanted to offer him a tough fight in Manchester.
The former Cage Warriors king was supposed to be challenged by former KSW champion Antun Racic, only for him to get injured and for Brazilian fighter Junior Assis to take the fight on short notice. The favourite was clear, it was the Englishman. And the Brazilian can now only regret taking the fight.
The duel ended in the first round at 2:15 when the home star put on a submission called Americana. The Brazilian didn’t tap out in time and will have to deal with an injured hand. Information about the health condition of Assis is still pending.
Cartwright then called for a duel with Jonas Magarde. They even had a heated staredown in the cage. Nothing seems to be stopping the fight. Magard wants it in December at the O2 Arena, the Englishman on January 27 in Newcastle.
The celebrity clash offered a first-round KO
The culmination of the Stage to the Cage project. British stars Paul Smith and Jake Quickenden took to the cage after more than 10 months of preparation, capping a great and challenging journey that has seen them go through hell.
Given his sporting background, Quickenden, who is well known in England for his participation in various reality shows, was the favourite. Smith, for his part, is a popular comedian. Neither man shied away from a big challenge, for which he deserves admiration.
And they didn’t look bad in the match either. For being their first, hats off to them. You could tell they took their preparation seriously. But by 1:16, it was all over. After they traded a few punches, Quickenden managed to hit Smith’s chin and he froze at that moment, which his opponent took advantage of to end it and score a big win.
The Czech executioner of the British executed by a blow to the groin
Akonne Wanliss is set to be one of the biggest stars of the English expansion of the Oktagon. After making a great showing in the summer in Stvanica, he has now moved to Manchester to face Jakub Bahník, who has literally destroyed the Brits so far.
But this time he was destroyed. It was expected to be an attractive fight mostly in the stand-up, but in the 25th second it was all over when Wanliss hit Bahnik hard in the groin after a knee and the fight could not continue.
The bout was ruled a no contest, so neither fighter picked up the coveted win.
Askham confirmed his role as the favourite
One of the biggest draws for the home crowd was clearly Scott Askham, who fought on English soil for the first time in a long time. His opponent was Marc Doussis, who was a fairly big underdog.
The match was not very attractive. A lot of time was spent on the canvas, it was a close fight. There were a couple of takedowns. There were some hard punches thrown, but we didn’t see any early stoppages.
Askham confirmed his role as the favorite, but was expected to be a much more dominant performance. However, all the judges saw him win, so there was satisfaction with the result in Manchester.
OKTAGON 48 offered the saddest possible ending
The title bout at the OKTAGON 48 gala promised to be an interesting spectacle and a fairytale ending to a story was in play. Aaron Aby is writing an incredible life story and was looking to beat Elias Garcia as a slight underdog.
The match didn’t start off badly from his perspective, but there was a pivotal moment in the first round. Garcia made a cut above Abi’s eyebrow with his knee and it was too big. He was allowed to continue, but it was a problem for the rest of the fight.
However, Abi stepped on the gas and tried to end the duel as quickly as possible. He was better. In the first round and in the second round. But he wasn’t having it. After the second round, the doctor wouldn’t allow Aaron to continue and the fight was stopped.
Garcia became the new champion of the Oktagon and the first king of the flyweight division. But he will not give up.
Source: Oktagon MMA
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