OKTAGON have added a Flyweight title fight between Aaron Aby and Sam Creasey to OKTAGON 56, after stripping their inaugural Flyweight champion Elias Garcia of the 125lbs title.
The announcement regarding Garcia being stripped off the title can be found in full below and was announced across all of the promotion's social media platforms:
"Statement from Ond?ej Novotný: OKTAGON MMA’s flyweight division no longer has a champion. Elias Garcia has turned down our offer twice to fight, and as a result has been stripped of his title. We now have a very interesting replacement for Aaron Aby, and you can look forward to a great title fight very soon."
Garcia claimed gold at OKTAGON 48 in the main event of the promotion's first show in the UK against Welshman Aaron Aby. Aby was looking the sharper of the two and was arguably up on the score cards but was caught with a huge shot that cut him on the eyebrow, which led to the doctor calling the contest off in between rounds 2 and 3.
OKTAGON owners had made the intention to try and schedule the rematch very clear immediately following the contest. The promotion originally looked at Newcastle, which Garcia did not accept and following this, they announced he would have one more chance to accept a match up before they would consider stripping him.
Staying true to their word the announcement of his stripping came just hours before the the vacant title fight between Aby and Creasey was announced, a rematch 3 years in the making.
The first time the two met was at Cage Warriors 123, on a card which featured several of the current OKTAGON roster including Matthew Bonner and Mick Stanton. The bout was one of the two semi-final contests to decide who would fight for the Cage Warriors world title.
Creasey walked away with a unanimous decision win, looking more than comfortable across the bout and went on to be crowned the Flyweight champion.
Since their initial meeting, both men have remained extremely active, with Aby competing 9 times and Creasey, 6.
Aby will no doubt be looking to not only avenge the loss the Creasey, but also eventually get his hands on the OKTAGON Flyweight title, a belt he felt he was heading towards prior to the doctor's stoppage at OKTAGON 48.
Creasey could make a huge statement to 125lb-ers across Europe if he can manage to come in and beat Aby for a second time, to become the champion in his promotional debut.
