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Get to know the fighters in the OKTAGON €1 million lightweight tournament
Fighters in the Oktagon lightweight tournament. Photo via OKTAGON MMA
On Saturday March 2, European MMA organization OKTAGON will launch the 2024 lightweight division Tipsport Gamechanger €1 million lightweight tournament. Some of the absolute best lightweights in Europe will compete for the honor and hefty cash prize.
The tournament will feature UFC veterans and OKTAGON champions as well as decorated former Kickboxers. Let’s take a closer look at the fighters in the tournament!
Makwan Amirkhani
Makwan ”Mr. Finland” Amirkhani. Photo: Per Häljestam – USA TODAY Sports samt Instagram
- Age: 35
- Nationality: Finnish
- Record: 17-9
- Upcoming fight: Mochamed Machaev, March 2
Before joining the OKTAGON MMA tournament, Makwan ”Mr. Finland” Amirkhani was in the UFC for 8 year, which makes him one of the most experienced fighters on Saturday.
Amirkhani started his pro career in 2010 and made it to the UFC in 2015. He faced some absolute elite fighters like Edson Barboza, Arnold Allen and Lerone Murphy during his years in the promotion.
Predrag Bogdanovic
Predrag Bogdanovic. Photo via Instagram (@bogdanovic_mma)
- Age: N/A
- Nationality: Serbian
- Record: 15-1
- Upcoming fight: Hafeni Nafuka, March 2
Predrag Bogdanovic is Serbian professional MMA fighter who started his career back in 2019 and already fought 16 times. With eight of his 15 wins coming via stoppage, it’s fair to say that he will present danger to anyone in the tournament.
Bogdanovic’s sole loss came via TKO against Will Brooks in June 2023.
Acoidan Duque
Photo via Instagram (@acoidanduque)
- Age: 37
- Nationality: Spanish
- Record: 19-4
- Upcoming fight: Marcel Grabinski, March 2
Spanish MMA star Acoidan ”El Pei” Duque is the champ of the biggest Spanish organization Acoidan.
The seasoned veteran has been around since 2009 and has back-to-back wins in Brace CF and PFL Europe.
Marcel Grabinski
Marcel Grabinski. Photo via OKTAGON
- Age: 32
- Nationality: German
- Record: 23-9
- Upcoming fight: Acoidan Duque, March 2
Former GMC lightweight and welterweight champion Marcel Grabinski is a top dog in the German MMA scene.
Even though he has back-to-back losses going into the tournament, the highly respected wrestler has a lot of wins coming via stoppage and is dangerous for anyone in the tournament.
Ebrahim Hosseinpour
Ebrahim Hosseinpourg. Photo via Instagram (@ebrahimhosseinpourmma)
- Age: 40
- Nationality: German
- Record: 8-7
- Upcoming fight: Milos Janicic March 2
Germany’s Ebrahim Hosseinpour is the oldest fighter in the Oktagon lightweight tournament.
”The Butcher” has alternated wins and losses since 2020, and comes from a unanimous decision win against Matej Kuznik at Oktagon 50.
Milos Janicic
Milos Janicic. Photo via Instagram (@milos_janicic)
- Age: 26
- Nationality: Montenegro
- Record: 16-3
- Upcoming fight: Ebrahim Hosseinpour, March 2
All of the wins of Montenegro’s Milos Janicic have come before the bell, nine of them in the first round. To say that he’s a dangerous finisher in quite an understatement.
He’s currently riding a five-fight winning streak in MMA, that includes victories in OKTAGON and FNC, and also holds a win in bare knuckle boxing.
Losene Keita
Losene Keita. Photo via Instagram (@keitaplusser)
- Age: 26
- Nationality: Belgian
- Record: 12-1
- Upoming fight Agy Sardari, May 4
OKTAGON featherweight Champion Losene ”Black Panther” Keita is one of the promotion’s biggest stars.
Fighting in the lightweight division before dropping down to featherweight where he defeated Czech MMA talent Jakub Tichota and the dangerous Niko Samsonidse.
Known as a fast and explosiveness fighter, Keita is one of the favorites of winning the Tipsport Gamechanger tournament.
Matous Kohout
Matous ”The Mighty Rooster” Kohout. Photo via Instagram (@matouskohout)
- Age: 31
- Nationality: Czech
- Record: 9-6
- Upcoming fight: Mateusz Legierski, March 2
Matous ”The Mighty Rooster” Kohout is a OKTAGON Underground winner and European champion in Muay Thai. Kohout has fought nine times under the OKTAGON banner.
The Czech striker is a good example of how a Muay Thai champion can transform into a great MMA fighter, just like Sweden’s Samuel ”Sammon Decker” Bark.
Attila Korkmaz
Attila Korkmaz. Photo via Instagram
- Age: 32
- Nationality: Turkey
- Record: 14-7
- Upcoming fight: Ronald Paradeiser, March 2
Attila ”The Fearless” Korkmaz has fought in promotion’s like Bellator and UAE Warriors before joining the Oktagon lightweight tournament.
He enters the competition on a high-note with back-to-back stoppage wins.
Mateusz Legierski
Mateusz Legierski. Photo via Instagram (@legierskimateusz)
- Age: 27
- Nationality: Polish
- Record: 10-1
- Upcoming fight: Matous Kohout, March 2
At 27 years of age, Mateusz ”Dynamite” Legierski is already a OKTAGON veteran and still undefeated in the promotion.
Legierski defeated fighters like reigning lightweight champion Ronald Paradeiser and stoppage machine Jakub Bahnik and is one of the most exciting fighters in the lightweight tournament.
His sole loss came against Roman Szymanski in rival promotion KSW, back in 2021.
Vladimir Lengal
Vladimir Lengal. Photo via Instagram (@vlado_lengal)
- Age: 35
- Nationality: Czech
- Record: 6-2
- Upcoming fight: Daniel Torres, March 2
With nearly 200 boxing, kickboxing and Muay Thai fights to his name, Vladimir ”Vlado” Lengal is as seasoned of a striker as you can be.
”Vlado” is an international WKF champion, WKU European champion, Czech Republic kickboxing champion and defended his title as Czech Republic professional boxing champion in December 2022.
As a MMA fighter, Lengal comes from a loss against Swedish striking sensation Samuel Bark.
Mochamed Machaev
Mochamed Machaev. Photo: Jonathon Michael
- Age: 24
- Nationality: Austrian
- Record: 13-1
- Upcoming fight: Makwan Amirkhan, March 2
Austrian beast Mago Machaev started his career in 2017. His home club is Soma Fight Club and he’s trained with the Wolf Pack squad at Allstars in Sweden at times as well.
Machaev has fought for promotions like BRAVE CF and UAE Warriors before joining OKTAGON’s Tipsport Gamechanger tournament.
Hafeni Nafuka
Hafeni Nafuka. Photo via OKTAGON
- Age: 20
- Nationality: German
- Record: 8-0
- Upcoming fight: Predrag Bogdanovic
The youngest man in the tournament lineup. “The Namibian Nightmare” Hafeni Nafuka is a German fighter with Namibian roots who’s been training martial arts since twelve years of age. His home club is Fight Fusion, based in Regensburg.
The undefeated submission artist is coming off two wins in OKTAGON MMA, one second-round guillotine choke and one first-round armbar. An exciting prospect worth keeping eye on for sure.
Ronald Paradeiser
Ronald Paradeiser. Photo via Instagram (@pararony)
- Age: 26
- Nationality: Slovakian
- Record: 18-8
- Upcoming fight: Attila Korkmaz
The reigning OKTAGON lightweight champion Ronald Paradeiser is the tallest fighter of them all with his 188 cm. He’s one of the more experienced fighters who’s fought some of the best fighters in Europe. Paradeiser challenged for the title twice before ultimately winning his third shot at gold last December.
Now, he’s eying that tournament prize money next.
Jason Ponet
Jason Ponet. Photo via Instagram (@jasonponet)
- Age: 35
- Nationality: France
- Record: 24-16
- Upcoming fight: Lukasz Rajewski, March 2
Jason “The Amazonian Samourai” Ponet started his career in 2008 and has fought for shows like M-1, ACB, and UAE Warriors, not to mention PFL.
Ponet’s home club is AKA Thailand and the French fighter is now looking to make his OKTAGON debut as a participant of the Tipsport Gamechanger tournament.
Lukasz Rajewski
Lukasz Rajewski. Photo via Instagram (@raaaju__)
- Age: 34
- Nationality: Polish
- Record: 12-9
- Upcoming fight: Jason Ponet, March 2
Lukasz “Raju” Rajewski is a 11-fight KSW veteran who holds a notable win against fellow Tipsport Gamechanger tournament participant Sahil Siraj. He’s also fought in Cage Warriors and ACA. Needless to say, this is a fighter well-versed with fighting on the biggest stages of European MMA.
Rajewski holds six wins by knockout. His home club is Czerwony Smok, based in Poznan.
Agy ”The Wolverine” Sardari
Photo via Instagram (@agysardari)
- Age: 30
- Nationality: Dutch
- Record: 17-4
- Upcoming fight: Losene Keita, May 4
Former Cage Warriors lightweight champion Agy ”The Wolverine” Sardari enters the tournament with back-to-back wins.
As 12 of his 17 wins have come via stoppage, Sardari is a tough opponent for anyone in the tournament. When he’s facing the OKTAGON star Losene Keita on May 4, he needs every bit of his skills to get away with a win.
Sahil Siraj
Sahil Siraj will fight in OKTAGON’s $1 million tournament. Photo via OKTAGON MMA
- Age: 34
- Nationality: Swedish-Afghan
- Record: 9-2
- Upcoming fight: Akonne Wanliss
Sahil “The Knockout Prince” Siraj started his career in 2015. His home club is Hisingen MMA and he’s finished more than half of his opponents within 2 minutes!
Siraj has fought in Cage Warriors, BRAVE CF and KSW as well as top Swedish MMA shows FCR, Bulldog Fight Night and Superior Challenge. Now looking to make his OKTAGON MMA debut with his eyes set on the Tipsport Gamechanger prize money.
Daniel Torres
Daniel Torres will participate in the Oktagon lightweight tournament. Photo via Instagram (@danieltorresmma)
- Age: 30
- Nationality: Austria
- Record: 14-5
Former KSW champion and K1 world champion Daniel ”Tucanao” Torres enters the tournament with a 14-5 record.
He has wins against the likes of the dangerous KSW champion Salahdine Parnasse and also fought in PFL.
Akonne Wanliss
Photo via Instagram (@akonnewanliss)
- Age: 31
- Nationality: Brit
- Record: 7-2
- Upcoming fight: Sahil Siraj, March 2
With his 184 centimeters, British fighter Akonne ”The Jedi” Wanliss is one of the tallest fighter in the tournament.
All of the Bellator veteran’s wins have come via stoppage, and he has only gone the distance twice in his pro MMA career. His upcoming fight against Sahil ”The knockout Prince” Siraj is one of the most anticipated of Saturday’s card.
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