Hatef Moeil is no longer the OKTAGON heavyweight champion, and he’s also no longer an OKTAGON MMA fighter after the promotion cut ties with the fighter this week.
After a series of incidents during OKTAGON 64 fight week, OKTAGON MMA bosses decided they have had enough of their now-former heavyweight champion, and took the decision to strip him of the title and release him from the organisation, effective immediately.
Tempers flared during a pre-fight press conference during fight week before OKTAGON 64, as Moeil engaged in a war of words with rival Lazar Todev, and things quickly spiralled out of control as the pair attempted to put hands on one another.
🤯 WHAT JUST HAPPENED? 🤯
Heavyweight champion, Hatef Moeil 🇩🇪 just turned the pre-fight press conference into chaos and Lazar Todev 🇧🇬 didn’t back down.
They’ll finally get their hands on each other tomorrow night at OKTAGON 64!
📺 https://t.co/TVP7NaDRbZ | DAZN | RTL+ pic.twitter.com/QnYtUbjkpL
— OKTAGON MMA (@OktagonOfficial) December 6, 2024
Security, and the two OKTAGON co-founders Pavol Neruda and Ondrej Novotny, attempted to get between the pair, and in the resulting melee Neruda sustained a cut to the head after being struck by the flying belt.
Following the incident, Moeil then made the fight-day decision to withdraw from his main event title defence against Todev at OKTAGON 64.
A statement posted to social media from the promotion on fight day explained, “Today at lunch, we informed Hatef Moeil’s management that Hatef would be penalised for yesterday’s incident.
“Hatef decided on his own not to participate in the match based on this.
“We will provide updates on the consequences in the coming days.”
Today at lunch, we informed Hatef Moeil’s management that Hatef would be penalized for yesterday’s incident.
Hatef decided on his own not to participate in the match based on this.
We will provide updates on the consequences in the coming days.
— OKTAGON MMA (@OktagonOfficial) December 7, 2024
Those consequences have now been made public, with OKTAGON announcing that Moeil had repeatedly breached his promotional contract, and as a result the organisation had stripped him of the heavyweight title and parted ways with the fighter.
“Hatef Moeil is no longer a champion or a fighter under the OKTAGON MMA organisation,” said a statement from the promotion, which was subsequently shared across their various social channels.
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“Our paths with Hatef have parted ways.
“As of December 17th, Hatef is no longer an OKTAGON MMA fighter and has been stripped of his championship belt. Before and during the Munich event, he repeatedly breached his contract. Although we attempted to find a reasonable solution, Hatef refused to engage in any meaningful compromise.
“We would like to thank him for his past cooperation and wish him the best of luck in the future. We would also like to acknowledge his manager, Ivan Dijakovic, for his always cooperative and fair approach.
“Unfortunately, individuals close to Hatef, specifically coach Babak, negatively influenced our collaboration and significantly contributed to the end of this partnership.
“We consider this situation now to be closed for us.”
