Creating a big legacy is exactly what Ireland’s first-ever Oktagon MMA champion wants to do after taking the light-heavyweight belt from Czech MMA legend Karlos ‘Terminator’ Vemola at Oktagon 65 last month. We look at the several potential options he now has across three weight classes: middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight.
Defending His Light-Heavyweight Crown.
With number one-ranked Karlos Vemola set to face Atilla Vegh in a trilogy bout in June, a rematch with Fleury was never on the cards, so naturally, you look who’s next in line on the rankings list. That man is Alexander Poppeck, 32, who fights out of Munich’s top team, holding a 17-5 record and is 4-1-1NC with Oktagon since 2022.
The only defeat under the Czech/Slovak banner is a close split decision loss to Pavol Langer in June 2023, and with Fleury already dispatching him[Langer] in 71 seconds on his way to the championship, a rematch with the Slovakian doesn’t make sense right now. Meanwhile, the German ‘Ironside’ is next in line and is available, with no other fight booked.
The champion says one of his goals for 2025 is to establish himself within the German fanbase, so this would be the perfect way to start with an intense match-up against the dangerous contender from the capital.
Makhmud Muradov
Muradov is a high-calibre operator who re-signed with Oktagon MMA earlier this year after going 4-2-1NC in the UFC. The middleweight contender was probably annoyed that his teammate [Vemola] had just been beaten at Oktagon 65, so he talked his way into a short face-off with Fleury inside the cage and opened the door to a possible match-up in 2025.
Fleury is intrigued by the potential fight knowing the draw that Muradov is, however, with the weight difference being the issue the champion mentioned the possibility of it being a catchweight bout. With that said, Muradov could potentially talk himself into a title fight with Fleury if he is willing to move up to 205lbs and was to press the matter in the form of social media call-outs to follow up on the head-to-head in Prague.
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Heavyweight
The promotion’s sixty-fourth event in Munich was all set to be headlined by Hatef Moeil vs Lazar Todev for the heavyweight championship. Everything was in place, and all fighters were sitting at the table for the pre-fight press conference when, out of nowhere, Moeil launched the title towards the challenger in a fit of rage. The fight was subsequentially cancelled, and the champion parted ways with Oktagon MMA, leaving on a sour note.
That leaves a door open for fighters to challenge for the belt, and Fleury put his name into the hat. He wants to become a two-weight champion, whether up or down in the weight classes, and if he sees an opportunity, the Irishman will pounce.
Going up in weight is much easier than going down, and if he is going to make the one underneath where he currently resides, he would need more time to do it correctly and, most importantly, safely. The promotion has declared that Todev will fight for the vacant belt, but could the challenger be the current 205lb champion? Does Will ‘F***ing’ Fleury have what it takes to head up the mountain to face the fellows with a bigger bang and much more weight behind them?
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Tipsport gamechanger 2025
Speaking after the Oktagon 65 press conference, World in Sport asked the Irishman if all of the above options were presented to him on the table there and then which one he would take. He responded by saying, “The gamechanger is the most financially lucrative so if they was to tell me that is 100% open then I’d go and do that. But, the others[options] we’d need to sit down and have a good chat.”
The latest date for the opening round of the tournament is April 26th, Fleury has declared that’s plenty of time for him to reach the limit required so is putting himself forward for the one remaining wildcard sport.
Tipsport Gamechanger Season 3: All You Need To Know.
The European MMA Champions League enters its third season in 2025; this time, the middleweights will take centre stage!
A life-changing prize pot of €1 million will be up for grabs once again as the biggest MMA tournament on the continent returns for what promises to be another thrilling instalment. The 16-man lineup is littered with stars as current middleweight champion Kerim Engizek, top Czech talent Matěj Peňáz, welterweight title holder Ion Surdu, and promotional newcomer Krzysztof Jotko are all set to compete.
As in previous years, reserve bouts will be booked so an athlete is ready to step up immediately if anything happens to participants in the lead-up to their bouts. Furthermore, ‘Lucky Loser’ fan voting will remain so after each round, the public gets to vote for whoever they think deserves a second chance to jump back into the bracket later. At the end of the opening round, the eight remaining athletes will draw numbers randomly before deciding who they want to fight in the quarter-finals later next year.
“We are looking forward to the most competitive year of the European MMA Champions League so far,” said OKTAGON MMA co-founder Ondřej Novotný. “Fans can get excited about the highest number of domestic fighters in the pyramid since we began the project and the tournament will expand to more events, which I cannot wait for!”
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The Tipsport Gamechanger opening round matchups will take place across three events, with eleven countries represented, and are as follows:
OKTAGON 66 in Düsseldorf, Germany, on February 1:
Kerim Engizek (21-4) vs. Anthony Salamone (8-2)
Matěj Peňáz (9-1) vs. David Zawada (19-10)
OKTAGON 67 in Třinec, Czech Republic, on February 22:
Piotr Wawrzyniak (13-6) vs. Marek Mazúch (9-2)
Miloš Petrášek (13-7) vs. Mick Stanton (13-8)
Andreas Michailidis (16-8) vs. Mark Hulme (12-3)
OKTAGON 70 in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, on April 26:
Vlasto Čepo (12-3) vs. Erhan Kartal (12-2)
Ion Surdu(16-6) vs. Krzysztof Jotko(25-6)
‘Pirát’ Krištofič (17-6) vs. Wildcard (TBC)
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