Oktagon light heavyweight champion Karlos Vemola brought the curtain down on his storied MMA career with the perfect send-off at Oktagon 58 at Eden Stadium, Prague.
Vemola finished his old nemesis Attila Vegh to retain his 205-pound title and exact revenge for his defeat to Vegh back at Oktagon 15 in 2019.
That win for Vegh came when he stuffed Vemola’s early takedown attempt before punishing him with strikes to claim the TKO victory. But this time around, Vemola would not be denied as he relentlessly pursued, and landed, multiple takedowns as he sapped Vegh’s gas tank through a wild, gruelling opening five minutes.
Then, early in the second round, Vemola landed a quick takedown, then locked up an arm-triangle choke for the victory.
It meant that Vemola had avenged his loss to Vegh five years earlier, and it gave him the perfect way to call time on his MMA career, as he took off his gloves, giving one to Oktagon co-founder Ondrej Novotny and referee Pavel Tous.
Surdu stuns Kozma to earn welterweight title shot
In the night’s co-main event, Moldovan knockout artist Ion Surdu moved one step closer to the Oktagon welterweight title with a stunning one-punch knockout of long-reigning former champion David Kozma.
After a brief feeling out process, Kozma managed to close the distance and secure the takedown. Surdu stayed calm and worked his way back to his feet, but Kozma stayed stuck to Surdu like glue in a bid to keep the Moldovan on the mat. But Surdu eventually managed to escape “The Pink Panther’s” clutches.
Then, with the fight back in the open, both men reset and, as Kozma closed in looking to shut down the space again, Surdu timed him brilliantly with a perfectly-timed right hand that knocked the former champion out cold.
It was abrupt, it was stunning, and it propelled Surdu into a fight for the vacant Oktagon welterweight title, where he’ll take on the night’s other title eliminator winner, Amiran Gogoladze.
Marek Mazuch blasts out David Zawada with ferocious flurry
Power-punching middleweight Marek Mazuch showcased his knockout ability as he turned up the power to blast past former UFC veteran David Zawada in super-quick time after a wild encounter.
Mazuch opted not to bother with any sort of feeling out process, as he instead chose to throw full power from the very start. His punches forced Zawada to back off and cover up against the fence as Mazuch unloaded a blistering salvo of punches that separated Zawada from his consciousness in just 75 seconds.
THUNDEROUS POWER 🔨
Marek Mazúch 🇸🇰 just gave the performance of his career by stopping Zawada in the first round.
The whole middleweight division are now on notice! #OKTAGON58
📺 https://t.co/TVP7NaDRbZ & DAZN pic.twitter.com/xsZNhFuBLR
— OKTAGON MMA (@OktagonOfficial) June 8, 2024
The official stats said that Mazuch landed 13 strikes in the fight, all of them significant, as he scored a stunning quickfire victory to put the rest of the division on notice.
Rock chokes out Pokorny, silences Prague
In the main card opener, the rivalry between Liverpool’s Shem Rock and Czech Republic’s Jaroslav Pokorny finally came to a head as Rock completely dominated his foe before choking him unconscious three minutes into their lightweight matchup.
The pair, whose originally-booked bout at Oktagon 48 in Manchester was cancelled after Pokorny was left injured following a face-off skirmish between the duo, have had to bide their time before finally meeting in the cage. And, to many people’s surprise, and despite all of the bad blood and trash talk, they actually touched gloves twice before getting battle underway.
And when the action did get started, it took a blink of an eye for Rock to take advantage of Pokorny’s over-exuberance in the opening exchange as he instantly took the Czech’s back and locked in a body triangle.
With his position on his opponent’s back secured, Rock then set to work on the rear-naked choke, and kept his composure as he switched grips on multiple occasions before finally locking in the hold and choking Pokorny unconscious at the 3:06 mark.
ANOTHER CHOKE 🐍
Shem Rock continues his 100% finish rate inside Eden Stadium at #OKTAGON58
📺 https://t.co/TVP7NaDRbZ & DAZN pic.twitter.com/CpXkTnCL0i
— OKTAGON MMA (@OktagonOfficial) June 8, 2024
After his victory, he addressed the Czech fans, telling them, “You have the right to remain silent!” Then called for a fight in Frankfurt with German star Max Coga. But, after Coga entered the cage and greeted Rock, he spurned the offer, stating his own intention to face Antun Racic in a rematch of their bout back in 2013.
It left Rock needing to call another name, and he wasted no time in doing so, as he turned his attention to Hafeni Nafuka in a bid to land himself a spot on the stadium card for Frankfurt in October.
Legierski defeats Wanliss to reach Tipsport Gamechanger semis
Former Oktagon lightweight champion Mateusz Legierski showcased his championship credentials as he outclassed Akonne Wanliss over the full three-round duration in their Tipsport Gamechanger quarter-final bout.
Legierski, who never lost his title in the cage, showed exactly why he’s the top-ranked contender in the tournament as he mixed up his striking with takedowns to dominate Wanliss, then flipped him the bird after the final horn.
Legierski struggled to get his range during the early exchanges in Round 1, as Wanliss connected with shots from the outside. But on more than one occasion the Englishman rushed in and crowded his own work, which allowed Legierski the chance to regroup and utilise his wrestling.
As the bout wore on, Legierski started to find his range with his shots, and appeared to stun Wanliss on more than one occasion as he took control of the matchup.
After two rounds, and with Wanliss two rounds down on two scorecards heading into the final round, it meant “The Jedi” needed a finish. But it was Legierski who was pushing forward in search of the stoppage victory as he loaded up with strikes and pushed the pace on the Englishman.
A huge knee sent Wanliss staggering back across the cage, but despite some accurate, powerful follow-up shots from Legierski, Wanliss survived. But over the three rounds, he just had no answer to the former champion’s all-round game as Legierski powered into the semi-finals of the €1 million tournament.
Petrasek claims dominant win
Czech light heavyweight Milos Petrasek returned to the Oktagon cage with a victory as he dominated Kamil Wojciechowski en route to a shutout decision victory on the scorecards.
Petrasek outstruck Wojciechowski 154-21 throughout a fight that was one-way traffic from start to finish, with the only missing piece to Petrasek’s performance being a finish as he claimed the first decision win of his pro MMA career.
After an opening round that went Petrasek’s way, Wojciechowski returned to his corner looking exhausted. Petrasek, by contrast, looked energised, and opened up Round 2 with a head kick and follow-up punches as he immediatley put the Pole in trouble early.
Petrasek controlled the scrambles on the mat as he maintained the dominant position throughout as Wojciechowski fought almost on instinct in a bid to keep in the fight while avoiding punishment.
Whatever Wojciechowski attempted, Petrasek seemed to have the answer. And, after reversing every position the Pole tried to establish, Petrasek returned to his corner looking fresh, while Wojciechowski headed to the towels looking spent and demoralised.
With Petrasek two rounds up on all three scorecards, the big question heading into the third round was whether he could find a stoppage victory in the final frame and continue his 100 percent finish rate. But, despite his best efforts, Petrasek couldn’t quite find a fight-ending sequence, as he claimed his first-ever decision victory with scores of 30-27 across the board.
Duque upsets Machaev, moves into Tipsport Gamechanger semi-finals
Spain has a representative in the final four of the lightweight Tipsport Gamechanger tournament after Acoidan Duque upset the odds to defeat Mago Machaev via unanimous decision and progress to the semi-finals of the €1 million tournament.
After an evenly-contested opening round was scored for Machaev, Duque upped his work rate and took the second round with a smart mix of boxing and clinch work. That work not only took Round 2 on the cards, it also sapped Machaev’s gas tank for the crucial final round.
And with the finish line, and a place in the tournament semi-finals, in sight, Duque put his foot on the gas and dominated the final five minutes to claim 29-28 scores across the board and punch his ticket to the final four of the 155-pound tournament.
Gogoladze edges Silva, earns welterweight title shot
Georgian striker Amiran Gogoladze outstruck Leandro “Apollo” Silva to punch his ticket to a welterweight title fight later this year.
Silva and Gogoladze faced off in a welterweight title eliminator in Prague, and traded big shots from the off as they looked to establish their respective striking games early. The pair continued in that vein throughout the first five minutes as they both connected with significant strikes through an opening round spent entirely in the stand-up.
Silva offered the greater volume, but nothing he connected with appeared to affect Gogoladze at all. The Georgian was noticeably the bigger man in the cage, and when he did let his strikes go, they perhaps carried a little more venom.
Gogoladze started to up his work rate and put his shots together early in Round 2. He connected clean with a question-mark kick, then followed up with a three-punch combination, with each shot finding its mark. Silva remained composed, however, and simply shrugged after another combination from Gogoladze, who started to really let his hands go.
The fight entered the final round on a knife edge with two of the scorecards showing the fight level at 19-19, and both men looked to connect with big shots in a bid to sway the judges in their favour. And, despite Silva’s late bid to secure a takedown in the final moments, the bout went to the distance, with both men bloodied, and each celebrating victory.
After a tightly-contested battle, the scorecards were tallied, and Gogoladze’s hand was raised in victory after a split-decision verdict was announced.
‘El Pistolero’ outguns unfortunate Tripsansky
Former boxing world champion Deniz Ilbay put his striking prowess to good use to finish Denis Tripsansky in their featherweight matchup, but Tripsansky will be wondering what might have been after an unfortunate accidental eye poke from Ilbay in Round 1 played a major part in his defeat.
In a closely contested opening round, two of Ilbay’s fingers made their way into Tripsansky’s eye socket, leaving the Slovakian in clear distress as he used the medical time out to try to fight off the pain and clear his vision.
BOOM❗️
Deniz Ilbay 🇩🇪 secures another finish inside Eden Stadium.
That’s two crazy finishes from two fights already at #OKTAGON58
📺 https://t.co/TVP7NaDRbZ & DAZN pic.twitter.com/oa88SLlIlp
— OKTAGON MMA (@OktagonOfficial) June 8, 2024
Tripsansky resumed the fight and took the action into the second round, but he never looked quite the same after that accidental foul, and Ilbay took full advantage.
A big knee from “El Pistolero” found its mark as he dropped Tripsansky to the canvas. Then a barrage of ground strikes forced the finish to take the former boxing ace’s MMA record to 6-1.
Korkmaz power-bombs Amirkhani for third-round finish
In the opening bout of the night, Turkey’s Attila Korkmaz produced a big final round to finish Makwan Amirkhani and claim a third-round victory over the UFC veteran in their Tipsport Gamechanger reserve contest.
The pair, who finished first and second in the fan voting for the Tipsport Gamechanger reserve matchup, faced off for the right to be the first reserve should one of the existing contenders be forced out of the €1 million lightweight tournament.
As the fight progressed, it looked like one-way traffic as Amirkhani dominated the action, using controlled aggression and a steady pace to keep Korkmaz on the back foot. He also put his wrestling to good use to get “The Fearless” to the mat on multiple occasions.
But, remarkably, the open scoring had the fight level at 19-19 on all three cards heading into the final round, and Korkmaz came out swinging as he looked to turn the fight in his favour.
A lead right hook dropped Amirkhani with his first punch of the round, but Amirkhani recovered well and controlled the action once again as he forced Korkmaz into a lengthy defensive position as “Mr. Finland” looked in vain for a takedown.
Big submission victory 🥋
Attila Korkmaz 🇹🇷 gets the finish in the first fight of the night.
He used open scoring to his advantage and stopped Amirkhani to seal the victory #OKTAGON58
📺 https://t.co/TVP7NaDRbZ & DAZN pic.twitter.com/kYHxkJ50BM
— OKTAGON MMA (@OktagonOfficial) June 8, 2024
Eventually, Korkmaz picked up Amirkhani, lifted him up into the air and, making sure not to perform an illegal spike on the Finn, slammed him hard to the canvas. The slam appeared to dislocate Amirkhani’s shoulder, and gave Korkmaz the opportunity to lock up a rear-naked choke to force the quick tap from the already-injured Amirkhani.
It was a huge turnaround, and a massive win for Korkmaz, who improved his record to 15-8. Amirkhani, meanwhile, fell to 17-11, after suffering his second straight defeat inside the Oktagon cage.
Oktagon 58: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Karlos Vemola def. Attila Vegh via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 0:45 – for light heavyweight title
- Ion Surdu def. David Kozma via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 2:27 – welterweight title eliminator
- Marek Mazuch def. David Zawada via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:15
- Shem Rock def. Jaroslav Pokorny via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:06
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Mateusz Legierski def. Akonne Wanliss via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) – Tipsport Gamechanger
- Milos Petrasek def. Kamil Wojciechowski via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Acoidan Duque def. Mago Machaev via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) – Tipsport Gamechanger
- Amiran Gogoladze def. Leandro Silva via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – welterweight title eliminator
- Deniz Ilbay def. Denis Tripsansky via TKO (knee and punches) – Round 2, 2:16
- Attila Korkmaz def. Makwan Amirkhani via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 3:37 – Tipsport Gamechanger reserve bout
