Will Fleury emerged victorious after a five-round slugfest on Saturday night, taking a unanimous decision win over Lazar Todev to become a two-division OKTAGON champion.
Fleury’s performance against Todev earned him the vacant OKTAGON Heavyweight Championship, a belt he now holds alongside the promotion’s 205-pound title. His win headlined OKTAGON 68 this weekend from the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany.
The fight was back-and-forth at times, with Fleury not securing a victory on scorecards until they had crossed into the championship rounds of the bout.
Fleury started with a strong opening round despite seemingly suffering a flash knockdown due to a jab from Todev at one point early on. In the first few moments of the bout he rocked Todev with a head kick, then later connected with a flurry of punches to the head before the frame expired.
Fleury opened the second round with a takedown, although Todev remained active while on his back with submission attempts. After the fight worked back up to the feet, Todev was able to get through with some of his own shots against Fleury, backing him up with clean punches. The Bulgarian had done enough to tie up a pair of the scorecards through two rounds.
Fleury bounced back with easily his best round yet in the third, putting together a long stretch of punches, which Todev took on his chin in a testament to his toughness. Fleury scored a takedown and spent the second half of the frame in control on the mat.
Up two rounds to one heading into the championship minutes, Fleury needed to win just one more stanza to secure a title victory. Judges saw him win an incredibly close fourth round, weighing the value of his strikes over the aggressive output from Todev in that round.
Due to OKTAGON’s open scoring, an already fading Fleury knew in the final round that survival was all he needed to secure a win. With his foot completely off the gas pedal, Fleury dropped the final frame against an advancing Todev but nonetheless did enough to win on scorecards and become champ.
The win closes out a spectacular first year in OKTAGON for Fleury, appearing four times and capturing a pair of titles. The SBG Ireland talent previously appeared in a lopsided five-round performance against Karlos Vemola in December, earning him the promotion’s light heavyweight title via decision.
Todev was making his second attempt at becoming the heavyweight champ in OKTAGON. He previously tried for the belt in late 2023, losing a five-round decision to Germany’s Hatef Moeil.
Todev was scheduled late last year to face Moeil in a rematch for the title. However, in a dramatic turn of events, a pre-fight press event which devolved into a brawl caused the bout to get cancelled and for Moeil to be released by the promotion. Saturday was the first time OKTAGON’s heavyweight title made an appearance since Moeil was stripped of the belt.
Earlier on Saturday’s show, former UFC talent Makhmud Muradov scored his second win since re-joining the OKTAGON roster last year. Here are the quick results from the Stuttgart card:
Main Card (12:00PM EST / 6:00PM CET) (OKTAGON PPV)
Bout 11: Will Fleury def. Lazar Todev via Decision, Unanimous (OKTAGON Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 10: Alan Omer def. Lukasz Kopera via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 9: Makhmud Muradov def. Yasubey Enomoto via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 0:40)
Bout 8: Daniel Schwindt def. Marek Bartl via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 4:41)
Bout 7: Jessin Ayari def. Andreas Stahl via TKO, Strikes (RD 3, 4:01)
Bout 6: Denis Frimpong def. Robin Frank via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 5: Elvis Silva def. Roman Paulus via Decision, Split
Bout 4: Jakub Batfalsky def. Joel Batobo via TKO, Retirement (RD 2, 5:00)
Bout 3: Daniel Ligocki def. Erik Lorenz via Submission, D’Arce Choke (RD 1, 3:05)
Bout 2: Alina Dalaslan def. Kamila Simkova via TKO, Strikes (RD 3, 3:49)
Bout 1: Kevin Enz def. Benny Bajrami via Decision, Unanimous
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