Who is watching MMA if it’s not the UFC? In mainland Europe, it seems they all are.

Dana White’s combat goliath is synonymous with the sport. To the ever-lucrative casual audience, the UFC equals MMA. Such brand dominance can often spell doomsday for competitors, unable to get a foothold in the wider perception. However, one promotion is proving you don’t need to be the UFC to blaze the trail in the industry.

When Pavol Neruda and Ondrej Novotny founded Oktagon MMA in 2016, they dared to dream big. After all, they had to. Lofty ambitions were a requirement to do what they were seeking to achieve – cultivate mainstream fandom for a sport in a part of the world that previously didn’t exist. Starting out in Czechia and Slovakia, the immediate priority was break new ground in the region. Little did they know Oktagon would take MMA, as a global entity, to brand new heights.

Fast forward eight years and Oktagon have taken the consumption of MMA to the next level, one that the UFC have yet to touch. They have mastered the art of the stadium show. “We changed the landscape totally in this area,” Neruda told The Independent. “How people consume the sport and the perception of the sport.  It was an underground sport. Nobody liked it and we were so desperate to change this to how people look at it.”

In that pursuit, they have been resoundingly successful, and the events of 12 October 2024 were indicative of that feat. That night, the promotion smashed the UFC’s all-time attendance record for a single event. A staggering 60,000 fans packed into Deutsche Bank Arena, the home of Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt, to experience an almighty fighting spectacle.

Neruda could hardly believe it, even as the showpiece got underway. “I rented this colosseum for a few days, how crazy is that? I was waiting for the moment it would hit me, to digest the whole experience. You pray for this moment.” Angst may have consumed him on fight night, but when the dust settled, Oktagon had its place in history.

While the UFC may lean on its admittedly dwindling starpower to draw capacity crowds, Oktagon go a different way to get fans of this sheer number through the door. “It’s a lot of entertainment, not just sport,” Neruda asserts, revealing there is far more to Oktagon’s events than what goes on inside the cage. You only need to look back to Frankfurt to see a glimpse of this, with British singer-songwriter turned DJ John Newman – of ‘Love Me Again’ fame – taking to the decks for a wild half-time show.

But when it comes to the fighters, Neruda is also acutely aware of the importance of storyline and cinema to attract an audience beyond the hardcore combat fans. There is a WWE-esque “sports entertainment” aspect to the Oktagon’s product, something that gets people in their seats from the first fight. “That's the difference,” he says. “Our events are full from the fight number one because people are involved in the stories of the fighters. They want to see them and they have a connection with everyone on the card.”

Many of Oktagon’s top stars are from mainland Europe. Czech sensation Karlos Vemola has captivated the attention of his homeland and beyond, with his 2019 clash with Attila Vegh –sold domestically as the “Match of the Century” – and his 2023 rematch with Patrick Kincl breaking viewing records for the promotion. The likes of explosive Belgian featherweight champion Losene Keita and German middleweight titan Kerim Engizek, whose victorious debut ended in a 99-second knockout, are among other major continental draws for the company.

The promotion has a penchant for virality, with Frederic Vosgrone, nicknamed “The German Neanderthal”, taking Oktagon by storm after just one fight. Looking like a jacked-up Paddy Pimblett, his chaotic, unforgiving fight style has made him a must-watch attraction, with a clip of the undefeated BJJ black belt getting dragged across the cage while refusing let to go over his opponent’s leg doing the rounds on social media. Vosgrone went on to put him to sleep.

However, Oktagon haven’t been afraid to stray to the British Isles to locate some of its largest personalities. Shem Rock, fighting out of Dublin, is one of the promotion’s fast-rising stars – a man with a backstory like no professional fighter on the planet. The Liverpudlian spent seven years on the run in Asia after being wrongly accused of burglary with violence and assault in 2014, fleeing the country at the age of 20 as he feared he’d be jailed for a crime he didn’t commit. It was while a fugitive that he started training MMA and discovered his talent. He was eventually arrested upon his move to Ireland, with his burgeoning combat career leading the authorities to him. But in 2022, having spent six months on remand in custody, he was found not guilty by a court and acquitted.

Now without a criminal shadow casting over him, Rock has fast established himself as a leading draw both at Oktagon and potentially beyond – with his contract up with the promotion at the end of the summer. “The fighters from UK and Ireland, they are crazy,” Neruda says, who will be savouring Rock for as long as he’s got him. His brash showmanship is what has won him over with the fans, wearing a “Dana” mouthguard to the cage at Oktagon 71 as he prepares to become one of the hottest free agents on the market. “Everyone wants to be entertained, right?”

It’s this entertainment factor that has proved pivotal in Oktagon’s ability to sell out these “colosseums”, as Neruda puts it. The promotion is among the forerunners in the western world to hone the stadium extravaganza in MMA, following the path first trod by now-defunct Japanese giant Pride, just over two decades on. They go roofless once again this weekend at Slavia Prague’s Fortuna Arena, as Vemola and Vegh clash once more in their crucial trilogy bout.

It’ll be their third football stadium show in the space of 12 months, something which has fast become their niche. But despite the prospect of being lauded as the company that changed the MMA game should other promotions – namely the UFC – begin to follow suit, Neruda is a businessman at the end of the day. And as such, he wouldn’t mind it if Oktagon’s niche stays just that, even if such a world is unrealistic.

“I would be happy if it would be just us (doing stadium shows) because it’s comfortable,” he admits. “I’m just being honest. It’s nice to be able to grow and fulfil your dreams and whatever you wish to create. I’m always trying to stay two or three steps ahead of others – not sleep and wait until someone else who was maybe inspired by your actions to become better than you.

“I wish for as long as possible to be number one, but I know there will be new promotions somewhere hungry to achieve something big, watching what we are doing and dreaming to do it in their own way, just better. It’s kind of good because it makes us push to be better and brings the sport better conditions for fighters, for fans, for everyone. It’s exciting, but makes tension. You cannot fall asleep.”

As things stand, Oktagon doesn’t look close to dropping off. The company has endured a mesmeric rise in the past couple of years especially, with Neruda valuing it at a staggering €250m after closing a broadcasting deal with RTL+, the leading mainstream broadcaster in Germany.

Next year will be 10 years since Oktagon’s inception. The plan is to keep going bigger, with aspirations of hosting mega-events at Champions League final-calibre venues now no longer a pipedream. “I can imagine doing it at the Allianz Arena,” Neruda says. “It’s possible, with proper fights and promo, it’s not that much of a crazy idea.” In these parts, MMA is underground no more.

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