The entire opening round of the €1 million Tipsport Gamechanger welterweight tournament played out on Saturday evening, March 4, at OKTAGON 40. A packed crowd of 12,000 passionate fans filled Ostravar Arena in Ostrava to witness sixteen fighters representing fourteen different countries enter the European Champions League of MMA. The landmark event was also the first to be shown live on DAZN, their new, global broadcasting partner.
David Kozma (31-12) bounced back from his recent title loss by defeating Babilon MMA welterweight champion, Łukasz Siwiec (8-2), by split decision in the evening’s headliner. ‘Pink Panther’ utilised his strong takedowns and solid top control to dictate where the fight took place across the majority of the contest. He survived a late scare in the final round when the Pole locked in a tight rear-naked choke but Kozma displayed his trademark toughness and heart to fight out of the submission. The 30-year-old moves on to the quarter-finals as the sole representative of the Czech Republic.
In the co-main event, Alex Lohoré (23-8) emerged victorious on the scorecards after going toe-to-toe with Samuel ‘Pirát’ Krištofič (16-5). The bout began relatively evenly but ‘Da Killa King’ started to pull away in the second half of the fight, hurting the former interim middleweight champion on a couple of occasions. Things have really appeared to click for the Frenchman since his move to Great Britain Top Team and he now progresses to the next round of the biggest tournament in European MMA history.
Germany’s Christian Jungwirth (14-6) picked up his second victory in three weeks when he defeated Tato Primera (18-13) by unanimous decision, displaying his front-foot, pressuring style. Despite having his opponent changed on Friday, Louis Glismann (10-2) had a successful OKTAGON MMA debut, using high-level grappling to dominate Andrej Kalašnik (10-4) and claim a spot in the quarter-finals for Denmark.
In another tournament bout, Greek athlete and UFC veteran, Andreas Michailidis (14-6), edged out Leandro ‘Apollo’ Silva 26-11-1, 1NC) over fifteen minutes to earn a unanimous decision. Marcel Grabinski (23-7) provided a shocking, highlight-reel knockout earlier in the evening when he stopped top Hungarian welterweight, Máté Kertész (13-6, 1NC), in less than three minutes to become the second German advancing in the project.
Elsewhere on the card, Serbia’s Bojan Veličković (22-12-2) survived a dramatic double knockdown to submit Ion Surdu (12-5) in the first round and LFL champion, Melvin van Suijdam (14-5), defeated Radovan Úškrt (7-4) while representing Holland.
OKTAGON 40 Results
Main Card
Main Event
Tipsport Gamechanger Opening Round
David Kozma (31-12) defeated Łukasz Siwiec (8-2) by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Co-Main Event
Tipsport Gamechanger Opening Round
Alex Lohoré (23-8) defeated Samuel ‘Pirát’ Krištofič (16-5) by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
Tipsport Gamechanger Opening Round
Christian Jungwirth (14-6) defeated Tato Primera (18-13) by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Tipsport Gamechanger Opening Round
Louis Glismann (10-2) defeated Andrej Kalašnik (10-4) by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Tipsport Gamechanger Opening Round
Andreas Michailidis (14-6) defeated Leandro ‘Apollo’ Silva (26-11-1, 1NC) by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Lightweight
Jaroslav Pokorný (16-10) defeated Jan Široký (12-15, 1NC) by TKO (punches) at 3:09 of round two
Preliminary Card
Tipsport Gamechanger Opening Round
Marcel Grabinski (23-7) defeated Máté Kertész (13-6, 1NC) by knockout (punches) at 2:50 of round one
Tipsport Gamechanger Opening Round
Bojan Veličković (22-12-2) defeated Ion Surdu (12-5) by submission (anaconda choke) at 1:55 of round one
Tipsport Gamechanger Opening Round
Melvin van Suijdam (14-5) defeated Radovan Úškrt (7-4) by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Tipsport Gamechanger Reserve Bout
Matúš Juráček (10-3) defeated Ioannis Palaiologos (18-12-1) by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Immediately after the event, all fighters who advanced to the quarter-finals drew a numbered ball from 1-8 to decide the order in which they would place themselves on the bracket for the next stage. Each space in the quarter-finals filled up one by one, with none of the athletes wanting to be seen avoiding any opponent.
Melvin van Suijdam will face Louis Glismann in a rematch from five years ago and Marcel Grabinski will take on Andreas Michailidis. Christian Jungwirth will meet Bojan Veličković and Alex Lohoré will clash with David Kozma, arguably the most anticipated fight in the next round. Two quarter-final bouts will take place in Prague, Czech Republic on May 20 while the other two contests will go down in Oberhausen, Germany on June 17.
All of the fighters who lost in the opening round and Matúš Juráček, who won the reserve bout, have been entered into the ‘lucky loser’ pool. Fans can vote on the Tipsport Gamechanger website for the participant they want to potentially move back into the tournament if any injuries were to occur.
OKTAGON MMA are back on April 15 for OKTAGON 41 which takes place inside Home Credit Arena, Liberec. We land in the city for the first time and will bring the region the biggest MMA show they have ever seen. A huge bantamweight unification bout will take place between title-holder, Jonas Mågård, and interim champion, Gustavo Lopez, while OKTAGON MMA superstars, Karlos Vémola and Gábor Boráros, also return.
Be sure to follow OKTAGON MMA across all of our media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Website. Also, for all of the latest news in OKTAGON MMA, watch out for new episodes of OKTAGON HYPE (our magazine show specifically produced for international audiences) every two weeks on the OKTAGON UK & Ireland YouTube channel.
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