Dortmund, Germany — Czech middleweight David Hosek was the first winner of the night at Saturday’s Oktagon 69 in Dortmund, Germany – and things almost fell apart not during, but after the fight.
Opponent Aleksandar Stefanovic had missed weight for the bout, and after a triangle submission finish by Hosek, the pair had to be separated after getting into a shouting match, with numerous officials entering the cage to get between them.
Then, cooler heads prevailed— an embrace, and Stefanovic went as far as to carry Hosek on his shoulders to celebrate his win.
Following the fight, Hosek (12-6-1) told Cageside Press that he was “not so happy” with how things played out, in part because he had planned to keep the fight standing, rather than have to battle it out on the ground.
“He was very heavy and took me on the ground; I made a triangle, but it was not my plan. It’s not bad, because many opponents can see this fight, and they will be thinking I’m good in the stand-up, on the ground, everywhere,” noted Hosek. “So maybe it’s good for me.”
In response to Stefanovic missing weight, Hosek stated that he didn’t particularly care, but at the same time, felt the difference in the fight itself.
“I didn’t care about his weight. I said I don’t care, but in this fight when he took me on the ground and was just holding me, it was not so good because it was very hard to take him out,” admitted Hosek. Still, fighting on the ground, “I was getting a new experience,” he added.
As for the confrontation at the end, which Hosek sparked after screaming at his opponent following the win, “I was angry because of many things,” he revealed. “It was because he was very heavy, he had more than five kilograms on the weight, and now he has 10 kilograms more than me [on the night of the fight]. But I was angry because something hit me in the eye, it was his finger. I think maybe he didn’t want to do it, but he was just touching, touching, and he took my neck, like this [gestures], and in this moment I think he hit my eye and my neck. So I was angry about everything.”
Thankfully, all involved made the right call to focus on sportsmanship. Hosek, a KSW veteran, earned the win in his first fight for Oktagon since 2021.
Watch our full interview with Oktagon 69’s David Hosek above.
