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Latest
Walter ‘Kraken’ Pugliesi – A story of fighting and redemption
Video: Ismail Naurdiev claims he rejected Bellator and BRAVE CF offers, wants to ‘get back to UFC’
BREAKING: Justin Burlinson vs. Bobby Pallett in the works for Bellator Milan show on October 1
Video: Stuart Austin on ‘fun’ upcoming fight against his former ‘judo hero’ Satoshi Ishii at EMC 5
Tom Breese vs. Roman Kopylov official for October 3 UFC event
Jack Cartwright slated to defend bantamweight title against Gerardo Fanny at Cage Warriors 115
Wales’ John Phillips set to return against Jun Yong Park at October 17 UFC event
Report: Renato Moicano vs. Magomed Mustafaev booked for October 17 UFC event
KSW 54 Results and Video: Gamrot retains title and Izu Ugonoh secures MMA debut win
Giga Chikadze out of UFC Vegas 8 due to positive COVID-19 test
Euro MMA Hub
  • Home
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      ACA 110 – September 5

      June 21, 2020

      Schedule

      EMC 5 – September 5

      June 21, 2020

      Schedule

      UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Sakai – September 5

      June 21, 2020

      Schedule

      UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Teixeira – September 12

      June 21, 2020

      Schedule

      BRAVE CF 41 – September 17

      June 21, 2020

  • Event Results
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    • ACA ARES FC Bellator BRAVE CF Cage Warriors FEN KSW Oktagon MMA Probellum MMA UAE Warriors UFC All
      ACA

      Polish Perspective: KSW 54 guide plus ACA 109 and FEN 29 recaps

      August 28, 2020

      ACA

      Piotr Strus expects middleweight title shot after ‘fight of the night’ win in ACA…

      August 20, 2020

      ACA

      Daniel Omielanczuk not thinking about a UFC return, wants to win ACA heavyweight belt

      August 19, 2020

      ACA

      ACA 109: Rafal Haratyk feels no pressure ahead of ‘biggest fight’ in his career…

      August 19, 2020

      ARES FC

      Marko Kovacevic and Stephanie Egger sign with ARES FC

      August 7, 2020

      ARES FC

      Danilo Belluardo: ‘I want to rejoin the UFC!’

      August 3, 2020

      ARES FC

      David Bear and Anthony Dizy among French additions to ARES FC roster

      July 13, 2020

      ARES FC

      French standouts Mickael Lebout and Karl Amoussou sign with ARES FC

      June 27, 2020

      Bellator

      BREAKING: Justin Burlinson vs. Bobby Pallett in the works for Bellator Milan show on…

      September 1, 2020

      Bellator

      Yaroslav Amosov and Mark Lemminger set to clash at Bellator 244

      August 16, 2020

      Bellator

      Nelson vs. Moldavsky and Tokov vs. Gonzalez added to Bellator 244

      August 16, 2020

      Bellator

      Video: Malin Hermansson wants to remain active, targets one-week turnaround to fight at BRAVE…

      August 6, 2020

      BRAVE CF

      Mochamed Machaev and Shoaib Yousaf scheduled to headline BRAVE CF 40 on August 24

      August 17, 2020

      BRAVE CF

      BRAVE CF 39 Results and Video: Giannis Bachar defeats Tahar Hadbi in striking affair

      August 15, 2020

      BRAVE CF

      BRAVE CF 39’s Gregorio La Torre needs to ‘think a lot’ about his future…

      August 12, 2020

      BRAVE CF

      Glenn McVeigh wants Mokaev rematch after signing five-fight BRAVE CF contract

      August 10, 2020

      Cage Warriors

      Jack Cartwright slated to defend bantamweight title against Gerardo Fanny at Cage Warriors 115

      August 31, 2020

      Cage Warriors

      Steve Aimable vs. Jordan Vucenic official for featherweight meeting at Cage Warriors 116

      August 28, 2020

      Cage Warriors

      Jack Grant vs. Yassine Belhadj slated for Cage Warriors 115

      August 27, 2020

      Cage Warriors

      Paul Hughes expected to face Aidan Stephen at Cage Warriors 116

      August 25, 2020

      FEN

      Polish Perspective: KSW 54 guide plus ACA 109 and FEN 29 recaps

      August 28, 2020

      FEN

      Adam Kowalski extra motivated to avenge loss and win FEN light heavyweight belt in…

      August 21, 2020

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      Video: Oli Thompson discusses FEN heavyweight title win, almost fighting Fedor and future plans

      August 18, 2020

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      Polish Perspective: Summer Transfer Window in Full Swing

      August 11, 2020

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      KSW 54 Results and Video: Gamrot retains title and Izu Ugonoh secures MMA debut…

      August 30, 2020

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      Polish Perspective: KSW 54 guide plus ACA 109 and FEN 29 recaps

      August 28, 2020

      KSW

      KSW’s ‘Flying Dutchmen’ recount their post pandemic experience

      August 28, 2020

      KSW

      Video: Izu Ugonoh ‘fully dedicated’ to MMA transition after feeling burnt-out with boxing

      August 27, 2020

      Oktagon MMA

      Oktagon MMA announce new dates for the rest of 2020

      July 9, 2020

      Oktagon MMA

      Battling the Pandemic: Underground Style

      July 8, 2020

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      Mateusz Legierski injured, Filip Pejic steps in to face Roman Szymanski at KSW 53

      June 30, 2020

      Probellum MMA

      Probellum MMA announce September 5 event featuring Creighton vs. Curtis and Burlinson vs. Iwanowski

      July 28, 2020

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      Chi Lewis-Parry set to defend heavyweight title against Fabio Maldonado at UAE Warriors 13

      August 19, 2020

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      Tom Breese vs. Roman Kopylov official for October 3 UFC event

      August 31, 2020

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      Wales’ John Phillips set to return against Jun Yong Park at October 17 UFC…

      August 31, 2020

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      Report: Renato Moicano vs. Magomed Mustafaev booked for October 17 UFC event

      August 31, 2020

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      Giga Chikadze out of UFC Vegas 8 due to positive COVID-19 test

      August 29, 2020

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      BREAKING: Justin Burlinson vs. Bobby Pallett in the works for Bellator Milan show on…

      September 1, 2020

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      Tom Breese vs. Roman Kopylov official for October 3 UFC event

      August 31, 2020

      Promotions

      Jack Cartwright slated to defend bantamweight title against Gerardo Fanny at Cage Warriors 115

      August 31, 2020

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      Wales’ John Phillips set to return against Jun Yong Park at October 17 UFC…

      August 31, 2020

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      Walter ‘Kraken’ Pugliesi – A story of fighting and redemption

      September 5, 2020

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      Video: Ismail Naurdiev claims he rejected Bellator and BRAVE CF offers, wants to ‘get…

      September 3, 2020

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      Video: Stuart Austin on ‘fun’ upcoming fight against his former ‘judo hero’ Satoshi Ishii…

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      Alessio Di Chirico has been training with Fabian Edwards ahead of facing his ‘toughest…

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FeaturedLatestOktagon MMAPromotions

Battling the Pandemic: Underground Style

by Zuzana Koudelová July 8, 2020
by Zuzana Koudelová 0 comment

Image Credit: Peter Dzurjanin/Oktagon MMA

In the beginning of March, Oktagon MMA (a promotion operating in the Czech Republic and Slovakia) representatives were watching the news closely, patiently waiting if their event on March 14 would ease past the rising restrictions. Oktagon 16 was eventually cancelled only a couple of days prior to its original date, when gatherings were limited to 100 people at a time, and rescheduled to a new September date. However, the fight-less hiatus didn’t last long on the local scene.

Only a couple of weeks later, an unique project called Oktagon Underground was presented. Same-day weigh-ins, 5 weight classes, a specially-adapted set of rules and total prize money of 100 000 € to be distributed during 7 events between May 16 and July 4.

The ruleset was targeted to reach the broad horizon of fighters across various martial arts disciplines – three 3 minutes rounds, a wide range of strikes were permitted and a 10-point scoring system was in place. Takedowns could only be executed without throws and submissions couldn’t be attempted on the ground. If a fighter was knocked down, they would lose a point and getting taken down into a controlled position three times in a single round would also result in a point deduction. Any takedown equaled 3 significant strikes. If a fighter was knocked down three times in a round or four times across the entire bout, the contest was over. Sounds confusing? It was at first, but referees, fighters and fans quickly adapted. The limited use of ground techniques also resulted in many muay thai and K1 fighters joining the competition, heating up the rivalry between them and MMA fighters.

On May 16, one week short of UFC‘s return to action, the first event of Oktagon Underground series took place. In a gym in Prague, behind closed doors, with a negative COVID-19 test as an entrance ticket for fighters. The tournament bracket was split between the Czech and Slovak side with the finalists of each side of the bracket eventually fighting each other in a super-final – happening when the borders would open again. Individual fight cards were extended with so-called superfights which (among others) included a fight of Oktagon MMA welterweight champion David Kozma.

The quick turnaround of events resulted in many replacements due to injuries and in the end roughly 90 fighters from Slovakia and the Czech Republic got a chance to compete and provide fight fans entertainment during lockdown. As the restrictions eased, there was a limited number of fans attending the events, which culminated in a thousand fans watching the super-final live in Brno, Czech Republic.

The Kings and Queens of the Underground

After 8 weeks of competition the winners were found. Tadeáš Růžička, a muay thai fighter who is transitioning to MMA, owned the 155 lbs (70 kg) bracket, finishing all his 4 fights via TKO. Another former muay thai fighter, Matouš Kohout (3-3 in MMA), was a replacement in the 176 lbs (80 kg) superfinal, but he ended up defeating Ronald Paradeiser (10-6 in MMA) to cash the 5 000 € prize money for winning.

The women´s 134.5 lbs (61kg) tournament bracket was highly anticipated because of the participation of the best two Czech MMA female fighters – UFC vet Lucie Pudilová and Magdalena Šormová (who is the last person to beat recent UFC debutant Kay Hansen in Invicta FC bout) were both among the favorites, but it was eventually Czech amateur boxing and MMA champion, 18 years old Tereza Bledá, whose hand was raised in the super-final on July 4th, raising the expectations for her MMA professional debut and future career.

The 198 lbs (90 kg) super-final fight was left unsettled between Vlastislav Čepo and Matěj Peňáz, a Glory Kickboxer, because of an injury to the latter and Daniel Škvor, who has also competed in Glory, conquered the 220.5 lbs (100 kg) bracket.

All Oktagon Underground fights can be found on Oktagon MMA Youtube channel.

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Zuzana Koudelová

When I was little, my parents refused to sign me up for handball, because it was “too rough“ for me. Who would have thought I would sell my soul to MMA later in life? At Euro MMA Hub I mainly focus on the scene in central Europe, hoping to bring attention to the up-and-coming talent from this region.

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