The highly anticipated contest between Akonne Wanliss and Sahil Siraj has been scrapped from OKTAGON 54 mere hours before the bout was set to go down.
Wanliss and Siraj were both set to square off in the opening round of the Tipsport Gamechanger Lightweight tournament but following an altercation between Wanliss and Siraj's team, the bout has now been pulled.
In an official statement OKTAGON said:
"After yesterday's press conference, an incident occurred between Sahil Siraj's team and Akonne Wanliss.
The latter was assaulted by two coaches while leaving the hall from which they were both banned earlier.
Both coaches have been banned from OKTAGON MMA tournaments for life.
Akonne WANLISS is not feeling 100% and the incident could affect his performance, although all examinations show that there were no injuries.
Sahil SIRAJ was not involved in the incident and had no ability to influence its course.
Both fighters remain in the TIPSPORT GAMECHANGER and their bout will now take place at #OKTAGON56 in Birmingham.
We are sorry for this incident and apologize to all our fans who were present or will now not see the match in OSTRAVA because of it."
To accompany the statement, the promotion also released a 6 second video, which can be viewed here, showing the altercation,
It appears that Siraj's team met Wanliss as he came through the door following the press conference to confront and a brawl ensued.
With Siraj not being involved and Wanliss being caught unawares, both men will remain in the Tipsport Gamechanger tournament and will now meet at OKTAGON 56, which is set for April 20th in Birmingham - Wanliss' hometown.
Tonight's card will now be a bout short due to the altercation but will still feature 6 of the 8 opening round contests and at the top of the bill, an undisputed Middleweight king will be crowned.
