The surprise of the year, Keith’s ride and the brutal bloodbath of losing a legend. What did OKTAGON 39 look like?

OKTAGON 39 was the third tournament of the largest Czechoslovak organization in Germany, but the first ever in Munich. Several stars went into action and we saw early finishes, big surprises, bloodbaths and title calls. What did the gala look like?

Prelims

The first match of the Munich tournament offered a battle between two newcomers to the Octagon. Tayo Odunjo measured his strength with Lucas Cruz and went into the fight as the favourite. He had a clear plan right from the start. To press his opponent on the canvas, tire him out and enjoy him on the ground.

But with the exception of the first round, where Odunjo visually had the upper hand, Cruz did better. He was able to defend takedowns well, was more convincing in the standup as well, and hit the British fighter hard on several occasions. All the stats, including takedowns, were in his favor.

So Cruz won on points with all judges and scored his first win in the Octagon.

A representative of the Czechoslovakian scene has already jumped into the second fight. Specifically, Marek Bartl, who was challenged by Kevin Hangs. The native of Moravia has lost four of his last five MMA fights, so he needed a win for his confidence.

However, the fight did not start as he wanted. Hangs quickly delivered a takedown, however Bartl was able to set up the arm bar perfectly and looked like he might finish it. But he didn’t. The German wriggled out of the awkward situation and tried to maintain his dominance on the ground.

In his effort, however, he forgot the rules and illegally kneed Bartel in the head when he shouldn’t have. The point was deducted and the Moravian, who lives in Slovakia, was given time to recover. However, he didn’t even use all of it. And then he raised hell. He hit Hangs very well in the standup, delivered a knockdown and then finished the fight on the ground at 3:03.

Vladimir Lengal went into action afterwards. He had a change of opponent just days before the fight. The experienced Deiga Scheck was replaced by Cem Kyumcuoglu, incidentally Scheck’s charge.

The Moravian fighter was the favourite in the fight and confirmed his role more or less from the beginning. He was more accurate and harder in combinations. He even decided to take the fight to the ground. In short, he put on a dominant performance to end the fight in the second round.

What’s more, Lengal arranged right in the cage that the fight with Scheck would actually take place.

The last fight of the prelims card promised to be an attractive spectacle. Killer Vlasto Čepo took on the legendary Héctor Lombard in a boxing match, but except for the end of the third and final round, we didn’t get a completely hilarious and eye-pleasing duel.

The fight ended without a knockout, and therefore without a winner. Both fighters, however, took the fight at the last minute, and Chepo came up against a man who is his role model.

Main Card

Moeil and Paradeiser made their case for a title fight

The bad man in action again. It was already looking like Hatef Moeil would not be fighting in the Octagon, but eventually relations were settled and he was able to challenge Wallyson Carvalho in Munich. It was expected to be a one-sided show, but the Brazilian surprised.

Carvalho was able to resist the power and wrestling of Moeil for a long time. He was also very dangerous in the stand-up. In the second round, however, the fight gradually began to break down in Moeil’s favor, who controlled the third round. But he had a much harder time than expected. But he won deservedly on points. Then he asked for a title fight.

The battle for the title bout was then fought between Ronald Paradeiser and Vlado Sikic. The Slovakian fighter was the big favorite according to fans and bettors, but experts warned that Šikič would definitely not be an easy opponent.

And that was confirmed in the first round. Šikič was hard to read, he had very unorthodox movement. But Paradeiser was prepared for it and got his rival in big trouble when he put him in a rear-naked choke. Shikic escaped it though and even reversed the position.

By the second round, though, Paradeiser was single-handedly writing his own story. He hit hard and broke Shikich down. He then went to the ground willingly and the Slovakian talent finished him there with hard punches.

Paradeiser’s performance made his title shot, and thus his rematch with Losen Keita, clear.

A shocking loss for Xavier and a great fight for Keita

Rafael Xavier and Pavol Langer catered another fight. The Brazilian fighter was the big favourite, however Langer is not an easy opponent for anyone and Xavier felt it too, who also made his first appearance in action in quite some time.

The first round was cautious at the beginning from both sides, however Xavier had a slight advantage. He even managed to get the Slovak underneath him and controlled the fight for a while there. However, in the second five minutes, Langer started to pull the longer end of the rope, delivering a successful takedown and being more convincing and active on the ground than Xavier was in the first round.

And as Langer got into a good groove in the second round, so it was in the third. He scored two takedowns, more or less gave Xavier nothing, controlled the fight tactically and provided the biggest surprise of the night.

Two judges saw Langer win, one awarded all three rounds to the surprising Brazilian fighter.

Xavier, who could have fought Karlos Vemola for the title in the summer, now has to bite a bitter defeat.

Losene Keita also had an unpleasant fight as the favorite. This is because he was challenged by Samuel Bark, a dangerous standup fighter. With the win, Keita was able to claim the featherweight title, where he holds the belt of Mate Sanikidz.

The first round was played at a tremendous pace. While Bark in particular was kicking Keita’s legs intensely, Keita was threatening with hard punches and attempting to wrestle. However, the Swede showed good preparation.

In the second round, however, Keita began to take the reins of the fight. He became more accurate, while Bark almost completely stopped kicking. The lightweight champion began to turn his opponent red. He was able to send Bark to the ground in the last second of the second five minutes, but the bell saved him.

Keita opened the third round in hunting mode, looking to take advantage of Bark being badly shaken up. And he succeeded in doing just that. He stopped the fight after 30 seconds of the third round.

Bloodbath in the loss of a legend, Jungwirth

A highly anticipated German duel between two welterweights. Young blood versus old school and a legend of German MMA. Alexander Poppeck versus Martin Zawada. And right from the start the young blood clearly had the upper hand.

Poppeck took Zawada down quickly and absolutely dominated. Zawada got nothing at all while Poppeck peppered him with hard punches, including some very nasty elbows. The legendary German was happy to survive the first round. You could see it on his face.

Zawada certainly wanted to enter the second round better, only to find himself on the ground again in the bottom position quite soon. This time, however, Poppeck was not immediately in full mount. Fortunately for Zawada. Nevertheless, he got into this dominant position anyway and destroyed the legend.

With one elbow, he managed to turn the fight into a bloodbath. Poppeck even called for the referee to see if it was too much. However, it came to the end of the round and Zawada wanted to continue in the third.

He knew what to expect. He tried to stay on his feet as long as possible, to keep the fight standing. But it didn’t take a minute and the fight was right back where the previous round left off. There Poppeck continued his total demolition.

Zawada landed over 400 punches, nearly 100 of them significant. An absolutely superb performance by Poppeck. No wonder he asked for a title fight. The champion is still Karlos Vémola.

The main event then featured Christian Jungwirth challenging Neves Denilson De Oliveira. The German’s entrance sparked a great atmosphere, but the first round didn’t look like it.

The home star was better, more convincing, faster. And in the third round, The Kelt was going to build on that. But two and a half minutes in, Oliveira put him on his ass with a straight chin shot. But Jungwirth recovered and put his rival under pressure.

The bout ended on points and Jungwirth was the winner on a split-decision.

Source: Oktagon MMA