Oktagon MMA
Oktagon 56: Birmingham – Pre-event press conference
Watch the stars of Oktagon 56 take the stage as they sound off ahead of the European promoption’s return to the United Kingdom next month.
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by
Simon Head
Saturday, April 20 will see European promotion Oktagon MMA return to the UK for a big card of fights in Birmingham, England.
Oktagon 56 will feature a battle for the newly-vacated flyweight title in the main event, as Wales’ Aaron Aby takes on former Cage Warriors flyweight champion Sam Creasey for the title, which was recently stripped from Elias Garcia after the American did not agree to fight Aby in a title rematch.
The co-main event features a Tipsport Gamechanger first-round matchup, as England’s Akonne Wanliss faces off against Sweden’s Sahil Siraj. The bout was due to take place in Ostrava earlier this year, but was pulled from the card after Siraj’s coaches attacked Wanliss backstage after the pre-fight press conference.
It led to both coaches being handed permanent bans from the promotion, while Siraj, who was cleared of any responsibility for the incident, was allowed to remain in the tournament. The matchup remains, but so does the bad blood.
The fight card also features the return of Shem Rock, who faces England’s Stefano Catacoli, and Denis Frimpong, who takes on English lightweight Callum Mullen. Oktagon Challenge lightweight champion George Staines also returns to action against Slovakia’s Tomas Ciganik.
The event will also mark the promotional debut of Irish light heavyweight Will Fleury, who has already made no secret of his desire to shake things up in Oktagon’s 205-pound division. He’ll face off against Czech fighter Daniel Skvor. Also debuting is former Cage Warriors middleweight champion Mick Stanton, who will make his Oktagon bow against Poland’s Kamil Wojciechowski. The night’s other notable debut performance will see former Cage Warriors featherweight contender James Hendin make his first Oktagon appearance after recently putting pen to paper on a deal with the promotion. He’ll take on No. 10-ranked featherweight contender Jakun Dohnal.
Ahead of the event, the stars of the card will face questions from the media at a launch press conference, which you can watch via the video player above.
Oktagon 56: Confirmed fights
- Aaron Aby vs. Sam Creasey – for vacant flyweight title
- Akonne Wanliss vs. Sahil Siraj – Tipsport Gamechanger bout
- Shem Rock vs. Stefano Catacoli
- Daniel Skvor vs. Will Fleury
- Denis Frimpong vs. Callum Mullen
- George Staines vs. Tomas Ciganik
- Ammari Diedrick vs. Daniel Hromek
- Andrej Kalasnik vs. Liam Etebar
- Mick Stanton vs. Kamil Wojciechowski
- Max Handanagic vs. James Dixon
- Megan Morris vs. Aitana Alvarez
- Jakub Dohnal vs. James Hendin
A sports editor and MMA reporter with 25 years' experience in sports media, Simon has covered mixed martial arts since 2009 for a host of national and international outlets, including UFC, BBC Sport, MMA Junkie/USA Today, BT Sport and the Daily Mirror.