Historic event in Frankfurt also trumps the UFC

Almost 60,000 spectators witnessed a historic event in Frankfurt on Saturday evening – and two German martial artists played the supreme role.

In front of over 59,000 fans at the Eintracht Stadium, MMA fighter Christian Eckerlin won the long-awaited fight against compatriot Christian Jungwirth and took the unofficial crown as “King of GerMMAny”. With the mega event, the Czech Oktagon league immortalized itself in the annals of its sport: It was not only the most attended MMA event in Germany, but also in the entire Western world (only a few events in Japan at the turn of the millennium were better attended). .

The market leader UFC has never attracted more fans than Oktagon 62, not even when superstar Conor McGregor climbed into the cage.

The atmosphere in Frankfurt was correspondingly hot: Although the fight took place in the “living room” of Frankfurter Eckerlin, both fighters could count on their large following who loudly supported their role models.

Prominent friends of the two fighters also took part in front of or behind the scenes: While rapper GZUZ’s friend Eckerlin gave a live performance during his run-in, Jungwirth received mental support from the Bundesliga, like him SPORT1 reported: “My friend Andreas Beck wrote to me: His brother, Arthur Beck, is my manager.” Deniz Undav and Waldemar Anton also sent me a video message.”

However, the support of the DFB stars brought Jungwirth nothing in the ring. The former VfB Stuttgart goalkeeper talent was inferior to his opponent (who himself has a football background at Darmstadt 98) for five rounds and lost unanimously on points.

“Today is the best day for me after my wedding and the birth of my two children,” Eckerlin cheered – but also paid tribute to his opponent: “Huge respect to him. He doesn’t avoid anyone and always leaves everything in the cage.”

Jungwirth also quickly brushed off his disappointment and looked back SPORT1 Proud of his journey back: “To fight my way up through the story of my life, to have first failed and then to have had bad dealings like drugs, alcohol and parties: I had all that shit behind me.” And then I started at 28 to box, at 30 with MMA. So to then have a career on the line is a big achievement. I’m very proud of myself.”

From Jungwirth’s point of view, the story with Eckerlin may not be over: “Why not a rematch? Maybe in Stuttgart.”

Another local hero had no luck on Saturday: Katharina Dalisda from Frankfurt lost her strawweight title against the American Mallory Martin. “It wasn’t meant to be today,” explained the clearly marked Dalisda.

Things went much better for Turkish Kerim Engizek. The Düsseldorf native won the middleweight title against Patrik Kincl, the 33-year-old extended his winning streak to 14 wins in a row and has been unbeaten for over ten years.

The downer: Engizek injured his foot during the fight and had to be pushed out of the press conference room in a wheelchair.