Frankfurt's own Katharina Dalisda had a night to remember at Oktagon 46 as she submitted Australia's Jacinta Austin to capture the inaugural Oktagon women's strawweight title on home soil.
Competing in the main event at the atomospheric Festhalle in Frankfurt, Dalisda snatched Austin's neck in the third round and locked up a tight arm-in guillotine choke to force the tap and secure the victory, and the title, to make history and complete a dream for the 31-year-old.
Dalisda's win was the culmination of a remarkable journey that started when Oktagon first held an event in her home town of Frankfurt back in June 2022. On that night, Dalisda, then a 6-3 prospect, bought a ticket to watch her teammate Christian Eckerlin compete, and resolved to compete on the same stage one day.
That day came at the Festhalle at Oktagon 36, where Eckerlin fought, and won, in the main event, while Dalisda made her promotional debut and defeated American Mallory Martin via unanimous decision.
Dalisda then followed up with another unanimous decision victory as she defeated Monika Chochlikova at Oktagon 37, then scored a third-round TKO finish of Isabela de Padua at Oktagon 42 in April to earn a shot at the inaugural title.
And, despite having to take some of Austin's best shots in a tough third round, Dalisda turned to her grappling as she locked up a fight-winning guillotine to complete a remarkable journey inside the Oktagon cage.
Velickovic gains revenge, earns final spot
In the co-main event, Bojan Velickovic turned the tables on an old adversary to punch his ticket to the final of the Tipsport Gamechanger tournament.
Velickovic faced former Oktagon welterweight champion David Kozma, who had defeated him via fourth-round TKO in their Oktagon 29 title fight back in December 2021. But the Serbian contender, who had earned his spot in the semi-finals with a hard-earned win over German contender Christian Jungwirth, was in no mood to let history repeat itself and he loaded up with strikes early as he put "The Pink Panther" on the back foot early on.
Velickovic kept the pressure on and, after stunning his man, he finished Kozma on the mat with a barrage of ground strikes to pick up the 24th fight of his career.
Michailidis blasts his way into final
The second finalist in the Tipsport Gamechanger tournament was decided in the blink of an eye, as Greek contender Andreas Michailidis needed just 33 seconds to knock out submission ace Louis Glismann and punch his ticket to the final.
Michailidis connected early with punches, with one grazing shot to the top of Glismann's head sending the Dane down to the canvas for a quickfire knockout and a stern warning that his punch power can end a fight in an instant, even if it doesn't land clean.
The night also featured two reserve bouts for the tournament, withohn Palaiologos and Leandro "Apollo" Silva both picking up impressive inside-the-distance wins.
German fan favorite Christian Jungwirth was cheered to the rafters as he made his entrance into Festhalle to face Palaiologos, but the crowd were shocked into near silence as the Greek contender rocked, the dropped "The Kelt," then went to work on the ground as he chased a submission finish.
Initially, Palaiologos tried a rear-naked choke, but Jungwirth worked his way free as the Frenkfurt crowd roared its approval. But those celebrations were premature, as Palaiologos snatched Jungwirth's left arm and, after some adjustment, secured the finish via Kimura.
Earlier on the main card, Brazilian welterweight Leandro "Apollo" Silva produced a late submission to finish Mohamed Grabinski via rear-naked choke with just 26 seconds remaining of their Tipsport Gamechanger reserve bout.
And in the opening main card bout of the night, Kerim Engizek made a huge statement on his Oktagon debut with a massive one-punch knockout of Matias Juarez, then immediately called for a shot at middleweight champion Patrik Kincl.
Engizek, who entered the bout on an eight-and-a-half-year, 11-fight win streak, extended his run of finishes to seven with a perfectly-timed straight right to announce his arrival as a dangerous new contender in Oktagon's 185-pound class.
Oktagon 46: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Katharina Dalisda def. Jacinta Austin via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 3:40 – for inaugural women's strawweight title
- Bojan Velickovic def. David Kozma via TKO (ground strikes) – Round 1, 3:45 – Tipsport Gamechanger semi-final
- John Palaiologos def. Christian Jungwirth via submission (Kimura) – Round 1, 3:46
- Andreas Michailidis def. Louis Glismann via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:33– Tipsport Gamechanger semi-final
- Leandro Silva def. Mohamed Grabinski via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 4:34– Tipsport Gamechanger reserve bout
- Kerim Engizek def. Matias Juarez via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 1:39
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Deniz Ilbay def. Marco Novak via TKO (ground strikes) – Round 3, 4:29
- Niko Samsonidse def. Nicolae Hantea via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 4:10
- Frantisek Fodor def. Vladimir Sikic via TKO (doctor stoppage) – Round 1, 3:36
- Tayo Odunjo def. Selim Topuz via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Daniel Hromek def. Zoran Solaja via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
