The opening round in OKTAGON’s Tipsport Gamechanger Middleweight Tournament wrapped up on Saturday evening, with four more fighters punching their ticket into the quarter-finals.
The final four fights from the opening round of the tournament—which sees 16 different fighters from around the world battle it out over the course of the year, for a grand prize of 300,000 Euro—took place from the KV Arena in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic this weekend.
Dominik Humburger, Vlasto Cepo, Krzysztof Jotko, and Piotr Wawrzyniak secured spots in the quarter-finals on Saturday night, joining a round which already included Matej Penaz, Kerim Engizek, Mick Stanton, and Mark Hulme.
Here’s a rundown of all the tournament action from Saturday.
Dominik Humburger picked up arguably the most impressive win of the night, mounting a comeback in the main event against past OKTAGON champ Samuel Kristofic.
Humburger had a rough opening round, consistently getting backed up by the Slovak Republic fighter’s right hand. However, all of that was forgotten once Humburger stung Kristofic with boxing combinations of his own a round later.
A two-punch combination from Humburger backed Kristofic up to the fence early in the second round, kicking off a minute-long beatdown before a stoppage finally emerged. A tough Kristofic sprung back up to his feet after getting dropped by a left hook, but continued to take hard Humburger hooks as he attempted to recover.
Wobbling around the cage, losing his mouthpiece during the chaos, a hurt and exhausted Kristofic eventually collapsed to the mat, causing the fight to end.
The come-from-behind win for Humburger continued what could be a big year for the Czech talent. He entered the Tipsport Gamechanger Grand Prix after winning his OKTAGON debut just two months back, beating Borys Dzikowski. The former KSW fighter now has potentially three more fights, and if luck is on his side, three more wins, lined up for him this year.
The right hand of Vlasto Cepo proved to be money in his opening round fight against Erhan Kartal, leading to a nasty finish in the first round. Moments after Cepo dropped Kartal to a knee with a right hook, the Serbian fighter charged forward with more punches. The head of Kartal got knocked back by another right, and then, moments later, a right hook put him out cold and ended the fight after just four minutes.
Cepo was making his return for the first time since late 2023, when he lost an interim middleweight title fight to Piotr Wawrzyniak. It’s possible that a rematch between the two could come sometime down the road as part of the ongoing tournament.
Former UFC fighter Krzysztof Jotko sent Ion Surdu back to the welterweight division on Saturday night, walking away with a unanimous decision win after three rounds. Ground control was a major part of Jokto’s game through 15 minutes, spending a large portion of the second round on the back and also being in top control for a fair amount of the final frame.
Jotko, who left the UFC roster in 2022 after a loss to Brendan Allen, has since picked up a pair of wins. He now has stopped the momentum of Surdu, who was heading up to middleweight after capturing OKTAGON’s welterweight title with a first-round head kick win against Kaik Brito late last year.
In an explosive stand-up fight which seemed bound to end early, it was Piotr Wawrzyniak who prevailed over Marek Mazuch. After numerous hectic stand-up exchanges where the middleweights traded strikes, a clean left hook in the closing moments of the opening round dropped Mazuch, forcing a stoppage.
The result ended an impressive three-fight streak of finish wins that Mazuch had attained in recent years, beating names like ex-UFC fighter David Zawada along the way. Wawrzyniak, a former champ in OKTAGON, has now strung together two wins since his past title reign came to an end last year.
Earlier in the night, Mallory Martin defended her OKTAGON Strawweight Championship with a win over Eva Dourthe.
Here are the quick results for the card:
Main Card (12:00PM EDT / 6:00PM CEST) (OKTAGON TV)
Bout 10: Dominik Humburger def. Kristofic via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 1:58) (Tipsport Gamechanger Middleweight Round of 16)
Bout 9: Vlasto Cepo def. Erhan Kartal via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:01) (Tipsport Gamechanger Middleweight Round of 16)
Bout 8: Krzysztof Jotko def. Ion Surdu via Decision, Unanimous (Tipsport Gamechanger Middleweight Round of 16)
Bout 7: Piotr Wawrzyniak def. Marek Mazuch via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:36) (Tipsport Gamechanger Middleweight Round of 16)
Bout 6: Andrej Kalasnik def. Mate Kertesz via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 1:35)
Bout 5: Daniel Skvor def. Marc Doussis via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 1:51)
Bout 4: Mallory Martin def. Eva Dourthe via Decision, Unanimous (OKTAGON Strawweight Championship)
Bout 3: Radek Rousal def. Karol Kutyla via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 3:36)
Bout 2: Hojat Khajevand def. Lukasz Siwiec via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 3:25) (Tipsport Gamechanger Middleweight Reserve Bout)
Bout 1: Mateusz Strzelczyk def. Mateusz Duczmal via Submission, Heel Hook (RD 1, 1:31)
Knockdown News 