Carnage Media

By Clayton Skulina

As I sit on the train back home after an incredible night at Oktagon 73: Eckerlin vs Pukač, one word keeps running through my mind- magical. From the first fight on the prelims to an absolute stunner of a main event, this action-packed card in Hamburg truly was everything one could hope for in MMA- entertainment from start to finish, from the first fight on the prelims to the deafening noises during the main event. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Oktagon and plan to attend more shows in the future.

But before we get too far into the nitty gritty of this event, let me first explain what we’re doing. This article is the beginning of a new series within Carnage Chronicles titled “Carnage Cageside”. Throughout this series, I’ll be traveling to different promotions around the world and giving my thoughts on my experience at each event. As a fight fan myself, my goal is to provide you with behind-the-scenes coverage of some of your favorite promotions, as well as bringing some promotions into new light for our audience here at Carnage Media.

Oktagon 73: Eckerlin vs Pukač took place in the industrial city of Hamburg in northern Germany, the promotion’s first trip to the city. After arriving around lunch from an early train ride, I walked around the city and grabbed a Fischbrötchen (fish sandwich), a popular street food in the city, and explored. I immediately saw signs of the upcoming event that night- people wearing Oktagon merchandise, talking about the event, and even shadowboxing in the streets. The city was alive with MMA fandom, which only increased the closer I got to Barclays Arena. I arrived about 30 minutes before the gates opened, and I couldn’t believe what I saw- of the 15,000 tickets sold for the event, at least 5,000 people were waiting in line to be the first ones in the arena. A DJ was playing music outside of the stadium, adding to the excitement building outside of the stadium as people waited for the gates to open.

After checking in with the media team, I walked backstage to the press area, complete with Oktagon backdrops, a well-stocked food and coffee area, and a large TV to play the fights going on inside of the arena. I met with the Oktagon PR manager, Scott Lagdon, who showed me the press area within the arena to watch the fights live. His professionalism and willingness to answer my many questions made for an excellent experience with the media team. I used the rest of the time networking with more seasoned MMA reporters and journalists and got set up before the show kicked off.

After about an hour, the prelims started. Altin Zenuni, who was making his professional debut on the card, kicked things off with a rear-naked choke in the first round, which he dominated up to the finish. Another fight that jumped out to me was the Oktagon debut of Richie Smullen (15-3-1), an Irish featherweight who made an appearance on season 27 of The Ultimate Fighter and fought several times in Bellator MMA. After a close first round, Richie took down his opponent, Vojto Barborík (16-4), and proceeded to lay heavy ground and pound en route to a second-round TKO finish. I caught up with Richie after his fight, and he expressed his happiness with his performance and his plans to make Oktagon MMA his home for the foreseeable future. The prelims ended with a flyweight title fight between the challenger and UFC veteran Zhalgas Zhumagulov (18-9) of Kazakhstan and the defending champion Beno Adamia (12-9-2) of England, who was stripped of the title before the fight for missing weight. Zhumagulov dominated all five rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory, and I got to see him up close after his fight during his post-fight press conference.

After a short intermission, the main card kicked off. Every fight was entertaining in its own way, with all but one ending before the final bell. I enjoyed the fight between former 2 time bantamweight champion Jonas Mågård (18-7) and Farbod Iran Nezhad (12-4-1). Pre-fight bad blood came to a head when the two warriors met each other in the cage, with Mågård, who won the fight through his creative striking, shoving Nezhad before the fight began. I also enjoyed the two fights before the main event – both were first-round knockouts via right hook and were very entertaining throughout. But nothing could prepare me for what was to come later.

Christian Eckerlin (17-7) is an absolute star in the world of German MMA. The welterweight superstar, who originally wanted to be a professional soccer player, owns several businesses in the Frankfurt area and is also a member of the Hell’s Angels biker gang. From my conversations with people in the arena, I’ve found that people love him for several reasons: his boxing-heavy, fan-friendly fighting style, his relatability to the hard work Germans put in every day, and his dedication to his family outside the cage. At 38, “The King of Germany” recently headlined a show at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, where he trains, and 59, 148 people packed into the soccer stadium to watch him beat Christian Jungwirth via unanimous decision for the “King of Germany” belt. The reception he got at Barclays Arena was exactly as the nickname implies- that of a king. The arena went crazy when Eckerlin began his walk to the cage, chanting his name and willing the fan favorite hero to the cage, with the entire arena backing him against his opponent, Robert Pukač (19-13-1), who missed weight and was loudly booed during his walk to the cage.

Unfortunately for 15,000 of Eckerlin’s biggest supporters, the fight did not have a story book ending. After two close rounds, which were scored 19-19 on all three judges scorecards (Oktagon has open scoring- interesting), Eckerlin ate an overhand right from Pukač and succumbed to strikes moments later. The crowd was silent as Pukač and his team celebrated the stunning victory. Eckerlin was ok and helped to his feet moments later.

After the fights, I went down to the press area and sat in on the post-fight press conference, which was divided into two parts- prelim fighters first, main card fighters second. It was very interesting to hear the fighters answer several different questions from different reporters (through an earpiece translator, of course- my German isn’t that good yet). I was especially impressed with Christian Eckerlin, who took the loss with grace and asked that Pukač not be fined for missing weight, saying that he had a family to take care of and he (Eckerlin) didn’t need the money anyway. A classy move from the most popular fighter on Oktagon’s roster, and it was very easy to see why.

Overall, I absolutely loved my experience with Oktagon MMA. Their professionalism and willingness to aid my experience however they could made it a great experience for me. Scott Lagdon and his team ran a professional show backstage, and the live production was incredible- fire and smoke during fighter entrances, a passionate crowd, and most importantly- quality, entertaining fights throughout the entire card. My only negative takeaway, which was not on the promotion, was the fact that a title fight and the main event had a fighter who missed weight, which took away from the drama of the bouts a little bit. However, that minor detail did not take away from my experience at all, and I look forward to attending another Okatgon MMA show soon! I would highly recommend attending an event live if you’re ever in Europe- completely worth it! 

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