Oktagon 96 Card Facts: Ayari, Paradeiser and a Painter
Oktagon 96 takes place on Saturday, October 31, at SAP Garden in Munich. Four of the ten fights are at the 77-kilogram limit, so eight welterweights will step into the cage, five of them German. The main event crowns the division's new champion.
Amiran "The Sniper" Gogoladze (18-3) had his first pro fight in his hometown of Akhaltsikhe at sixteen. His ten-second knockout is still the fastest in the history of the M-1 organization. Before returning from injury, he prepared in Las Vegas, where he lived in Merab Dvalishvili's house and trained with Khalil Rountree Jr.
Jessin Ayari (18-6) steps in for the injured Felix Klinkhammer. The two were meant to meet in Cologne at Oktagon 91, but back then Ayari was the one who pulled out hurt. He knows the replacement role: he made his UFC debut in Hamburg as a late stand-in for Emil Meek, and won. Ayari has fought professionally since 2009, longer than anyone else on the card. His uncle and cousin represented Tunisia in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Olympics. A win would make him the first German to hold the Oktagon welterweight belt.
Jones "beat him like a dog"
Ronald "Rony" Paradeiser (23-11) is heading into his 25th MMA fight in Oktagon, more than anyone in the promotion's history. He also holds the record for wins there with 17. Paradeiser once sparred with Jon Jones in America. "I sparred with Jones once, he beat me like a dog," he said.
Debutant Burak Kizilirmak (12-3) has already stopped Paradeiser once. He choked out the then 18-year-old Slovak with a guillotine in April 2016, in Paradeiser's third pro fight. This time they share a card but not the cage. Paradeiser faces Tyrone Pfeifer (8-1), who stopped former UFC fighter Niklas Stolze in 22 seconds at Oktagon 90. It was the last fight of Stolze's career. Kizilirmak meets Kevin Hangs (15-9).
Outside the cage
Simon "Hemlé" Biyong (11-6) graduated from the academy of fine arts in Genoa. His parents forbade him from painting, so at school he drew manga comics for classmates to pay for pencils and paints. In his native Cameroonian dialect his nickname means "lionheart", and his son carries it too. He took up combat sports at 25.
Graphic designer Lukáš Chotěnovský (8-3) grew up on Van Damme VHS tapes. He got into MMA after being knocked out at a disco and waking up in hospital. Before every fight he shaves his legs. "It takes me fifteen minutes, and even if it raises my chances of winning by just one percent, it's worth it," he explained.
Referee Václav Přibyl will work his 200th Oktagon fight in Munich. He is a police officer in the Czech presidential protection unit and has a fighting career behind him. He counts his title with the German organization Free Fight Championship as the biggest success of his time in the cage.
Michael Deiga-Scheck (11-8) first came to Oktagon 31 as a coach. When his fighter missed weight, he volunteered and beat Radek Roušal in a replacement bout under Underground rules. In MMA he is 0-2 against Czech fighters, and now he faces Chotěnovský. Endrit Brajshori (6-2) has spent just 2 minutes and 28 seconds in the cage across his last two Oktagon fights. Brian Manning (6-1), a horror movie fan, meets Marek Bartl (17-16) on Halloween.
Source: Oktagon MMA