Saturday, March 8 sees Oktagon MMA in Stuttgart, Germany for the stacked Oktagon 68, a fight card fans will not want to miss.
The main event sees #1 heavyweight contender Lazar Todev face off against newly crowned light heavyweight champion Will Fleury, for the Oktagon MMA heavyweight title. This card has a lot of storylines going into it, and we break down a few below.
The Irish Invasion
The aforementioned light heavyweight champion, Will Fleury, will not be the only Irishman on the card. Alongside him is Manchester Top Team product Denis “The Menace” Frimpong. Lazar Todev, originally hailing from Bulgaria, has a large German fanbase, and will certainly have the crowd on his side. However, Fleury is no stranger to playing the role of the bad guy, with his last fight being against Czech superstar Karlos Vemola in Prague.
Fleury now looks to win the vacant heavyweight title, that very title that Todev was supposed to fight for in December, before disputes between Hatef Moiel and the promotion caused a cancellation. That, after Moeil sparked a press conference ahead of the fight.
Frimpong faces off against Stuttgarts’s own Robin Frank. Robin Frank will walk out to a large amount of cheers, however, Frimpong will walk out to a roar of boos.
Hailing from Ireland, the pair of fighters will look to silence the boo-birds. Fleury looks to become a two-weight class champion within a year in the promotion, while Frimpong returns to Oktagon MMA looking to push his way towards the top 10.
The return of Alan Omer
A feel-good story coming into Oktagon 68’S Co-Main event. Alan Omer is back after a five-year layoff due to a brain tumor. The UFC veteran makes his Oktagon MMA debut, and more importantly his return to the cage against Lukasz Kopera. Omer made a powerful statement ahead of this fight, saying “The tumor might have hit my brain, but it never hit my heart.”
Muradov looks to continue his Oktagon MMA Dominance
After leaving Oktagon MMA to sign with the UFC in 2019, the former promotional Champion, Makhmud Muradov (or simply “Mach”) returned to the promotion in September of 2024, winning a unanimous decision over Scott Ashkam to cement himself as the #1 Middleweight contender. While he isn’t competing in the Tipsport Gamechanger Tournament, Muradov will continue to defend his #1 spot. Muradov was supposed to face Joilton Lutterbach, he now faces Yasubey Enomoto in the third last fight of the night.
Marek Bartl taking on all of Team Jungwirth
Originally slated to face Christian Jungwirth, Marek Bartl now faces Jungwirth’s teammate Daniel Schwindt. Sadly, due to a herniated disk, Christian Jungwirth was unable to make his homecoming bout.
Marek Bartl captured the attention of the Welterweight division when he submitted Endrit Brajshori with an inverted triangle in December. Immediately post-fight he called out Jungwirth. Pretty quickly, that fight was made. However, the injury took Jungwirth out of the highly anticipated matchup. Daniel Schwindt, teammate and best friend of Christian Jungwirth, also lost his opponent for this card, so these two were matched for a thrilling bout. Schwindt, a middleweight, made his promotion debut at Oktagon 65 in Prague in December, where he overcame a controversial illegal knee to win via TKO against Radovan Uskrt. Schwindt was set to face off against Uskrt again due to the controversial nature of the win, but instead finds himself fighting his friend’s fight in a catchweight bout.
Along with UFC 313 this weekend, we have Oktagon 68 to keep fight fans busy. Luckily, as this card is taking place in Europe, the timing will work out, and you will be able to roll from the Oktagon 68 card, right into the UFC 313 card on Saturday.
