Europe
‘Knockout Prince’ Sahil Siraj to enter OKTAGON’s 1 million Euro MMA tournament
OKTAGON MMA just announced that Swedish-Afghan knockout artist Sahil Siraj will be one of the 16 lightweights to compete in the upcoming Tipsport Gamechanger 2 pyramid tournament, with a prize pool of 1 million euros.
Known as “The Knockout Prince”, Siraj certainly lives up to his nickname inside the cage. He’s finished eight of his nine professional wins with seven victories coming by way of stoppage, more often than not in spectacular fashion as he has multiple brutal knockouts on his highlight reel.
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Siraj holds a pro record of 9-2 and has only gone the distance twice, winning a unanimous decision before losing his next bout by a somewhat controversial split decision.
The 34-year-old, ranked at No. 2 just under UFC lightweight Guram Kutateladze in the Official Swedish MMA Rankings, is currently riding a two-fight win streak, most recently scoring a first-round knockout against Ahmed Abdulkadirov at KSW 87.
Related: KSW 87 results: Sahil Siraj wins via first round KO!
OKTAGON’s Tipsport Gamechanger 2 tournament aims to become the ‘Champion’s League of MMA’
OKTAGON MMA, arguably to hottest promotion in Europe at the moment, launched the groundbreaking Tipsport Gamechanger tournament last year as 16 welterweights battled it out with UFC vet Bojan Velickovic coming out on top.
Now, it’s time for the lightweights to go at it in Tipsport Gamechanger 2.
Each tournament has a prize pool of million euros, with the winner taking home a 300,000 euro check. The goal is to become the ‘Champion’s League of MMA’ according to the promotion’s broadcast partner DAZN.
“In cooperation with Tipsport, we wanted to make it clear that, even with our European expansion, there is something that has never been here before, something that everyone needs to see and something that is really the Gamechanger on the European scene. I dare to say that this is an unofficial European championship with huge rewards,” says OKTAGON co-founder Ondrej Novotny (via tipsportgamechanger.com).
Read more: Khamzat Chimaev suffered serious health issues after hand injury
Sahil Siraj could face UFC vet Makwan Amirkhani
Other than Sahil Siraj, OKTAGON MMA’s lightweight champion Ronald Paradeiser, former KSW and K1 champ Daniel Torres and other elite-level European fighters such as Mateusz Legierski–a former title holder who’s still undefeated in the promotion–will be competing in the upcoming Tipsport Gamechanger 2 tournament.
Notable for Scandinavian fans, UFC vet Makwan “Mr. Finland” Amirkhani is also confirmed as part of the lineup, as he’ll be competing in his first fight outside the UFC octagon since 2014. Another exciting name in the mix is Austria’s Mochamed Machaev who should be known to some Swedish fans as he’s been training at the famous Allstars Training Center and fought in Stockholm one time for BRAVE CF.
Makwan “Mr. Finland” Amirkhani will be among the 16 lightweights competing in OKTAGON MMA’s Tipsport Gamechanger 2 tournament. Foto: Per Häljestam-USA TODAY Sports
No matchups have been decided yet, but the Tipsport Gamechanger 2 tournament is set to kick off with opening rounds at OKTAGON 45 in Ostrava, Czech Republic on March 2.
Check out the current tournament lineup down below, more names to be added as well!
- Ronald ‘Rony’ Paradeiser (17-8)
- Akonne ‘The Jedi’ Wanliss (7-2)
- Vladimir ‘Vlado’ Lengal (6-2)
- Marcel Grabinski (23-9)
- Acoidan ‘Pei’ Duque (17-4-1)
- Mateusz ‘Dynamite’ Legierski (9-1)
- Matous ‘The Mighty Rooster’ Kohout (8-6)
- Konrad Dyrschka (16-2)
- Predrag Bogdanovic (14-1)
- Daniel ‘Tucanao’ Torres (14-5)
- Mochamed ‘The Beast’ Machaev (13-1)
- Milos Janicic (16-3)
- Makwan ‘Mr. Finland’ Amirkhani (17-9)
- Sahil ‘The Knockout Prince’ Siraj (9-2)
Read more: AFN announces featherweight tournament for March 9: “This is just the start!”
Also check out: Five biggest takeaways from Allstars Fight Night 4
