Oktagon 44 took place on Saturday night in Oberhausen, here’s a review from an action-packed night in Germany.
Oktagon 44: Main Card
Interim Light Heavyweight Title: Pavol Langer def Alexander Poppeck (split decision). A very competitive fight from start to finish, both had moments of domination in the fight, but it was mainly the edge in striking for Langer in the later rounds that secured the decision.
Welterweight Tournament: Bojan Velickovic def Christian Jungworth (unanimous decision). An absolute war, an incredible fight from start to finish. Bojan was close to finishing the fights with his submissions in the first round. Christian came back had had an immense second round. The third was quite even including a break to clean the blood-soaked canvas. Bojan takes the unanimous decision and moves into the semi-finals.
Welterweight Tournament: Andreas Michailidis def Mohamed Grabinski (Arm triangle 2:02). Very competitive on the feet in the first round, Andreas secured a takedown midway through and controlled from there. Similar story in the second and this time Andreas was able to secure the finish. Andreas now moves into the semi-finals.
Light Heavyweight: Rafael Xavier def Mateusz Strzelcyk (TKO leg break 2:47). Fight of the night candidate with Rafael putting on a striking clinic in the first round and Mateusz coming back with a knockdown in the second. Halfway through the third Mateusz suffered a nasty leg break ending the fight there.
Lightweight: Ronald Paradeiser def Andrew Fisher (ground strikes 1:21 round 3). Paradeiser dominated the fight from start to finish. Scored a knockdown from a powerful straight left in the first round. Controlled the distance and pace well in the second. In the third, he knocked Fisher down and finished with ground strikes.
Middleweight: Hojat Khajevand def Zdenek Polvika (rear-naked choke 1:04 second round). Polvika dominated the first round in all areas. Hojat with a terrific comeback in the second and took the back on the floor and put in the submission.
Prelims
Bantamweight: Antun Racic def Josivaldo Costa Araujo (TKO) – In a strange set of circumstances Josivaldo got his toe caught in the cage, the referee tried to pull the toe and somehow the toe broke and the decision was to give Antun the win by TKO.
Welterweight: Lukasz Siwiec def John Hathaway (unanimous decision). Siwiec showed his wrestling credentials as he dominated Hathaway on the ground and in the clinch. This was enough for him to pick up the win and a place as the tournament backup.
Strawweight: Jacinta Austin def Sofiia Bagishvili (rear-naked choke 2:19 first round). Wild fight from the opening bell, Sofiia threw some big shots, Jacinta threw back. Sofiia attempted a takedown which Jacinta rode into a back take and eventually locked in the rear naked choke. Jacinta has secured a title shot against Dalisda at Oktagon 46 in September. See her post-fight interview here
Catchweight 73kg: Hafeni Nafuka def Adrian Kepa (armbar 2:15 first round). Hafeni dominated the first round got Adrian against the fence, took him down, he put on the armbar and quickly submitted Kepa.
Free Prelim
Catchweight: Hassan Shaaban Def Denis Gondzala (unanimous decision). Shaaban hit a nasty low kick early in the first round which left Gondzala struggling for balance the whole fight. Despite the leg kick the fight went the distance with German prospect Shaaban picking up the unanimous decision.
Featured image credits to Oktagon MMA
