MMA
The new era of Oktagon has begun! Buchinger fell, Vemola had a winning comeback and the fans created hell during the Eckerlin fight. What did OKTAGON 33 look like?
And it’s over. The Octagon has gone beyond the borders for the first time with tournament number 33. Frankfurt was the scene of some great matches. Vemola had a winning comeback, the fans created a mad inferno in the hall during the Eckerlin duel, Jungwirth made the cage a slaughterhouse. What did OKTAGON 33 look like?
And it’s over. The Octagon has gone beyond the borders for the first time with tournament number 33. Frankfurt was the scene of some great matches. Vemola had a winning comeback, the fans created a mad inferno in the hall during the Eckerlin duel, Jungwirth made the cage a slaughterhouse. What did OKTAGON 33 look like?
Prelims
A new era has begun!
Scheck victorious again, Pokorny falls
Deiga Scheck and Cory Tait had the honor of securing the first Oktagon match. Tait is a talented newcomer to the organization, Scheck has already made one appearance when he fought Radek Roushal, whom he defeated on points. He originally went into the tournament as a trainer, but ended up presenting himself as a fighter and going home with an interesting scalp.
And just as he was a hero in his first match, he has now confirmed it. He won a very close match on a split decision, with two judges seeing it 29 to 28, and one judge seeing it the other way around.
The second bout catered for fighters from the German Octagon Challenge, namely Jamie Cordero and Ibrahim Cholo. Both fighters had already fought directly in the Challenge and Cordero won early. He won now as well, however, except on points after a battle in which both fighters had a fitness issue. The end of the second round and the third round were indeed not at an exemplary pace. Cholo, however, showed great stamina despite his lack of conditioning, withstanding many hard punches.
In the third bout, heavyweights Donald Cossic and Adam Palasz faced each other. Unfortunately, it ended prematurely due to injury. It had been a solid pace up to that point, with Cossic trying to take the fight to the ground and when he did, he kept it up for a long time despite Palasz’s attempts to get up. And when Palasz was finally able to break free of his opponent’s control, Cossic hurt his knee.
The first Czech fighter was in his fourth match of the tournament. Jaroslav Pokorný took on Ahmed Vila. The odds were even, neither was the clear favourite. And that’s what the fight looked like. It was mostly all standing, but it wasn’t very attractive. Nor was it easy for the scoring judges to evaluate. But they unanimously decided that Vila won 30 to 27.
Polívka back on a winning streak, Jungwirth dominated a bloody brawl
Hatef Moeil and Kerisson Rezende provided the second heavyweight bout at OKTAGON 33. Rezende was already known to the fans from his duel with Kamil Minda. The fight could have been one of the fastest KOs in the history of Oktagon, but it didn’t happen. Moeil was able to dominate the two rounds on the ground and Rezende refused to go into the third round.
After the duel ended, Rezende complained of several pokes to the eye or punches to the back of the head.
Zdenek Polívka was the second Czech to introduce himself to the German crowd. And he couldn’t have started better. Firstly, he chose the song Deutschland by the iconic band Rammstein as his entrance song, then he gave a dominant performance. Cheick Kone was unable to enter the third round due to injury.
The fight between Christian Jungwirth and Ivica Trucsek promised to be a big one, and that’s exactly what we got. Trušček was relentless, hitting Jungwirth good and hard right from the start. Perhaps for the first time we even saw the German fighter backpedal, but he gradually began to take the reins of the match and opened up his opponent like a can of worms.
In the second round, Truszek was checked by doctors at first, but the fight was still able to continue. Jungwirth, however, refused to prolong the fight too much. He got his opponent to the ground, where he showered him with more hard punches, forcing the referee to stop the fight. A thoroughly deserved win in an excellent atmosphere.
Main Card
David Zawada put up a tough fight, Vémola had a dominant comeback
David Zawada, a veteran of the UFC or KSW, took on Erhan Kartal in front of his home fans. He was a big favourite, but he had his work cut out for him. Kartal showed quick hands and had some dangerous strikes. Zawada had a lot to deal with.
The German fighter eventually had to take the fight to the ground, which he did in style. He carried Kartal across the cage to his corner, where he checked the first round. However, due to a rib injury, Kartal did not enter the second round and Zawada scored the win.
Karlos Vémola returned to action in an MMA bout for the first time in over a year. He didn’t have an easy opponent, but he did well. He managed to choke Michal Pasternak in the first round, which is a great success. Pasternak is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. After the fight, he challenged Stephan Pütz.
Eckerlin is responsible for the incredible atmosphere
It was announced long in advance that Christian Eckerlin was the biggest star in German MMA. Especially in Frankfurt, where he is extremely popular. But what kind of atmosphere were the fans in the Festhalle able to create during his fight? That’s the question. Unbelievable!
Denilson Oliveira, who was very dangerous in the beginning, was in the cage with him. However, in the first round he hit Eckerlin twice in the groin, which of course affected his performance. Nor did he weather the stormy atmosphere too well, which played to the home star’s advantage.
In the second round, Eckerlin took the fight to the ground quickly, taking the Brazilian fighter’s back and unleashing a series of punches. The referee had no choice but to stop the fight. The German won via TKO.
Octagon Challenge has a champion, the battle for Germany was dominated by Pütz
After the Eckerlin fight, the arena noticeably calmed down, but the German Oktagon Challenge final still had fans out of their seats in places. Twenty-year-old Hassan Shaaban and 14 years older Selim Topuz faced each other.
Topuz’s style didn’t suit Shaaban very well, but it was an evenly matched duel. For the second time in history, the Challenge final lasted five rounds and was not ended prematurely. All the judges saw Topuz winning. However, Shaaban showed a lot of potential and we will definitely hear more from him in the Octagon.
One of the most anticipated fights then was the fight for the German welterweight number one position between Stephan Pütz and Martin Zawada. The German Terminator managed to dominate the entire fight, taking his opponent down in all rounds and literally torturing him. An absolutely clear win on points. After the fight both fighters hugged each other and showed mutual respect.
Karlos Vémola then came to the cage and arranged a match with Pütz for the position of the only Terminator in the Octagon.
The lightweight division has a new champion!
The main match of the evening promised a very attractive spectacle and we got it, but unfortunately it didn’t last too long. Ivan Buchinger defended his lightweight belt against Losene Keita.
Buchinger took some hard shots, which made him respect Keita a lot. He tried to take the fight to the ground, but always too blatantly, and Keita not only managed to fend off takedown attempts, but managed to add some punches to the mix.
After three minutes, it was over. Keita was able to finish Buchinger with a series of punches and became the new Oktagon champion.
Source: Oktagon MMA
