A nine-year veteran of the UFC, Krzysztof Jotko made his promotional debut for Oktagon MMA earlier this year, defeating Ion Surdu in the opening round of the Tipsport Gamechanger middleweight tournament.
Jotko (26-6, 1NC) returns to action this Saturday at Oktagon 74 in Prague, Czech Republic, looking to advance to the semifinals.
Johnny Eblen, Bo Nickal, Abus Magomedov, and Josh Silveira among others have played a role in Jotko’s camp ahead of Oktagon 74, and he’s sounding confident ahead of his quarterfinal fight with Marek Mazuch.
“I’m ready to win this tournament,” Jotko told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview. “I come here to win this tournament. I don’t play.”
Oktagon MMA has become the frontrunner in European MMA, and has helped show that there is life after the UFC. That’s a sentiment Jotko agrees with.
“Absolutely. Absolutely. I think before Oktagon, the biggest organization in Europe was KSW, but I think KSW is now behind Oktagon. Oktagon is much higher right now, lot of people come to the events. They make amazing events with the stadium, the Frankfurt stadium, 60,000 [fans]… I can say behind the scenes, the hotel is good, the people who work there are very nice and helpful. It’s a very nice organization, I’m very happy to be there.”
It’s hard to view Jotko’s current position without looking back to his UFC run. He exited the promotion off a lone loss to Brendan Allen, who is now a contender in the middleweight division. He went 5-2 across his last seven fights inside the octagon, a respectable record, especially when you consider the other loss came against Sean Strickland, who would go on to become champion.
Jotko feels he’s been overlooked. In fact, he suggested he’s continued to be overlooked, even upon his arrival in Oktagon MMA.
“Yeah. This is what I- yeah. I don’t know, these people. Before the fight with Surdu, I was not even a favorite in the fight. So I was very, ‘oh my God.’ I talked to my friends, ‘hey, put your house on me, because I know I’m gonna win,'” recalled Jotko. “I don’t know what these people think, because for example my next opponent, okay he’s good, he has nine wins, three losses, but let’s see his fights, who he fights compared to me. Not even close. I know, but I don’t know if they know. It’s levels, it’s levels like everything.”
When it comes to his experience, Krzysztof Jotko has learned one key lesson. That comes down to belief. “I know now who I am, I believe in myself, and I know I’m going to win this tournament. This is what I can tell you. Nothing different to say. The guys, they need to already just know and live with this. They need to live with this. I’m going to be the champion, I’m going to win this tournament.”
Watch our full interview with Oktagon 74’s Krzysztof Jotko above.
