Octagon 62: MMA can feel like a king for a day – but what’s left?

Football reigns supreme in Germany, but for one day it’s mixed martial arts. In addition to a record number of spectators, there will also be a sporting crowning moment for Christian Eckerlin in the Frankfurt stadium. But is the hangover mood setting in after the big party?

The audience and MMA in Germany will not soon forget Oktagon 62 in the Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt am Main. A package of entertainment and top-class sport made the more than 59,000 people cheer, laugh, whisper and despair. In many moments there were certainly goosebumps and in some moments a tear, given the summit that mixed martial arts had stormed that evening. But after the big party the hangover usually comes. The question therefore arises as to what remains after this historical event.

It’s amazing that with Oktagon a Czech organizer has understood what makes the German martial arts and now also mainstream audience tick. They know the patent recipe for writing and telling heroic stories from their homeland, but the athletes in Frankfurt also make it easy to build up a good tension on this evening.

22-year-old Max Holzer rode into the stadium for his fight against Mo Trabelsi on an e-scooter, wearing a fanny pack and a Gucci cap. “Crushed in a Talahon” blared, the audience doubled over with laughter, sang along and celebrated the Hanoverian, who always had a light-hearted saying ready. Holzer captured the spirit of the times and thus picked up the entire 59,000 – also because he is a primal force in the featherweight division. Trabelsi, an experienced fighter, had no chance against Holzer. The package of show and sport – Holzer regularly offers this as a premium subscription.

But the audience also needed this encouraging moment. Katharina Dalisda from Frankfurt had previously lost her title against the American Mallory Martin. There were loud cheers for the 32-year-olds, always muffled by Martin’s strong hands, which broke Dalisda’s rhythm.

Better luck with Coga and Eckerlin

The other two Frankfurt representatives had a happier ending. Max Coga, now 35 years old, also has the complete MMA package. During his march, he played the epic “outro” of the band M83, which has already been featured in so many film trailers, as an intro, while a dozen children swirled soap bubbles in the air – his message: We are all one! We are all the same. The song “Freed from Desire” followed, the crowd danced, pure stadium feeling. In the cage, Coga dominated his opponent Antun Racic, the Croatian was knocked out by a cracking knee strike. The action was so violent that Racic lost his mouthguard. After the fight, expressions of respect first came from Coga, then from Racic. How big the sport has become and that for him as a Frankfurter it was one of the greatest moments of his career. “I love you all,” were his final words after the fight. His words were not overemotional, but clear, spoken to thousands of people unknown to him – but they still came across as authentic.

Kerim Engizek, on the other hand, was more emotional. After winning the middleweight title against Patrik Kincl, he collapsed in the cage. Although he has been unbeaten for over ten years and achieved his 15th victory in the series in Frankfurt, you could see what champion status means to the Turk from Düsseldorf. For years people had wondered whether, despite his success, Engizek actually had what it took to keep up with the big boys. In Frankfurt he provided proof over five rounds, dominating an international class fighter. For him there were only two messages: that his critics had finally fallen silent and a personal message to a boy suffering from cancer. Victory is dedicated to him, a true fighter.

Oktagon 62 reaches its emotional climax with the main fight between Christian Eckerlin and Christian Jungwirth. First, the champion belt was presented – by the “King of Cologne”, Lukas Podolski. When chants of “Jungwirth” and “Eckerlin” rang out alternately through the stadium during the fight, the bridge to football and thus to the mainstream was finally built. Even when the judges’ interim scores were displayed on the video cube, the Jungwirth supporters continued to build. And not just once. The Stuttgart player was behind in all five rounds against the Frankfurt team. Accordingly, it was a clear answer to the question of who became “King of Germany”. The King of Frankfurt was now also King of Germany. Eckerlin explained after the fight that it was the best day after his wedding and the birth of his children. He has the greatest respect for his opponents. “Jungwirth is a warrior,” said the Frankfurt native.

Show lots of things around

That’s how Oktagon 62 ended: emotional, but not overly euphoric. An event that, in addition to the sport, also featured musical acts such as rapper Gzuz during Eckerlin’s march in or John Newman in the halftime show. During the breaks, the flex cam panned through the audience, showing the audience that they should flex their muscles. It all seems very American and is reminiscent of US sports. Maybe a little over the top at one moment or another, but MMA fans celebrate interaction with the sport and the event.

Sport has used the big stage and spotlight to showcase its core values ​​and spread good messages. However, an event of this magnitude will probably no longer take place for the time being, even if ntv knows that the organizers are toying with the Allianz Arena in Munich. Only Munich is not Frankfurt and not Stuttgart, the hometowns of Eckerlin and Jungwirth, where a certain number of tickets would be guaranteed.

The two big stars of the German scene are both 37 years old. They regularly emphasize that they are not finished yet – there are physical limits in MMA and they will certainly not remain in the sport for ten years. But Frankfurt has also shown that younger fighters are coming up who can articulate themselves and appeal to the audience. In addition to the aforementioned Holzer, Niko Samsonidze and Deniz Ilbay also shone in Frankfurt. At the final press conference, the Cologne native even wanted a team tattoo for himself and his colleagues, as a symbol of having been part of the largest pure MMA event of all time. And for one day, MMA was the king of sport in Germany for the first time. The internet, the news, the newspapers are full of articles of different colors about the historic event. Eintracht Frankfurt will play again in Deutsche Bank Park in two weeks, Oktagon 62 is a chapter in the history books.

With the entry of RTL, which staged the spectacle on its streaming platform, Oktagon has a foot in the door to reach a wider audience. For the upcoming events, we’ll be taking a few steps back from the stadium. Back to the great halls. “Now we’re really getting started,” Eckerlin responded to a possible cage pension. Of course, this is also what the organizers and those who hope for a boost for the sport hope for. The next few weeks and months will show whether the huge lighthouse event will produce sustainability.

You can watch the entire Oktagon 62 event and the individual fights on RTL+.