It was love at first fight for Oktagon MMA when they visited Düsseldorf for the very first time. As the fastest-rising mixed martial arts promotion in the world continues to grow in Germany, they held their first event of the year with hometown hero Kerim Engizek headlining against Kamil Oniszczuk in the first round of the Tipsport gamechanger.
In the main event, Engizek defeated Oniszcuk by unanimous decision in the opening round of the Tipsport Gamechanger tournament. The current middleweight title holder had a sold-out PSD dome bank arena in raptures when walking to the cage. With thousands of Fortuna Düsseldorf fans in attendance, the atmosphere generated was one to behold and one he said he would remember for the rest of his life.
The co-main event saw Lom-Ali Eskiev stop late replacement Wanderley Junior in round number two after landing some blistering shots to reaffirm his position at the top of the 155lb weight category. Junior’s stock only rose despite the loss due to his impressive showing against a high-level opponent after stepping in on just hours’ notice, thus earning himself a contract with the organization.
Upon returning to the promotion, Matěj Peňáz passed the toughest test of his career with flying colours. He finished David Zawada by technical knockout with just under twenty seconds to go in the first round. Zawada managed to hold his Czech counterpart against the cage for an extended period of the bout, but it was ‘Money’ who looked increasingly dangerous whenever the pair exchanged strikes on the feet. A flurry of punches hurt Zawada, so the referee waved off the contest, and Peňáz remained undefeated in the promotion, advancing to the final eight of the tournament.
Deniz Ilbay stopped Vladimír Lengál during round two of their thrilling feature featherweight bout, which earned him ‘Performance of the Night’ honours. Tamerlan Dulatov had a successful promotional debut by submitting Ghith Ighzawi after just sixteen seconds in an eighty-kilogram catchweight contest, which became the quickest submission in Oktagon MMA history.
Elsewhere on the card, Hojat Khajevand landed a vicious knockout on Kennedy Rayomba in a Tipsport gamechanger reserve bout. An unlikely star emerged from the night’s first fight when the 48-year-old single mum of three Danielle Misteli survived an early onslaught to submit Sara Luzar Smajić at bantamweight.
OKTAGON 66 Results
Main Card
Main Event
Tipsport Gamechanger Opening Round
Kerim Engizek (22-4) defeated Kamil Oniszczuk (10-5) by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) to advance in the middleweight tournament.
Co-Main Event
Lightweight
Lom-Ali Eskiev (23-7, 1NC) defeated Wanderley Junior (17-10) by TKO (punches) at 4:45 of round two.
Tipsport Gamechanger Opening Round
Matěj Peňáz (10-1) defeated David Zawada (19-11) by TKO (punches and knee) at 4:42 of round one to advance in the middleweight tournament.
Featherweight
Deniz Ilbay (8-1) defeated Vladimír Lengál (7-4) by knockout (knee and punches) at 0:35 of round two.
Welterweight
Cihad Akipa (8-2) defeated Matouš Kohout (11-9) by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Tipsport Gamechanger Reserve Bout
Hojat Khajevand (8-4) defeated Kennedy Rayomba (6-4) by knockout (punches) at 2:20 of round one to advance to the ‘Lucky Loser’ voting.
Preliminary Card
Featherweight
Daniel Solaja (3-1) defeated Raphael Federico (5-1) by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Welterweight
Emir-Can Al (2-1) defeated Viktor Kováč (0-1) by TKO (punches) at 3:47 of round one.
Catchweight (80kg/176lbs)
Tamerlan Dulatov (2-0) defeated Ghith Ighzawi (0-1) by technical submission (guillotine choke) at 0:16 of round one.
Welterweight
Zoran Solaja (3-1) defeated Lukáš Eliáš (4-1) by TKO (punches) at 1:34 of round one.
Bantamweight
Danielle Misteli (4-4) defeated Sara Luzar Smajić (4-3) by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:30 of round two.
