OKTAGON 71: Alexander Poppeck eyeing revenge in Pavol Langer rematch

Revenge will be in the air in the main event of OKTAGON 71 on May 17 as one of Germany’s top fighters will look to position himself for a shot at the OKTAGON MMA light heavyweight title.

Back in 2023, Germany’s Alexander Poppeck was the bookies’ favourite to defeat Slovakian veteran Pavol Langer and capture the interim 205-pound title, but in a huge shock, Langer defeated Poppeck via split decision to claim the title and send Poppeck back to the drawing board.

Alexander Poppeck and Pavol Langer — OKTAGON MMA

Now, after an eye-catching win over American Jeremy Kimball at OKTAGON 55, “Ironside” is ready to exact revenge over Langer, and the pair will meet in Saturday night’s headliner in Poppeck’s home town of Munich, Germany.

The co-main event features a bad blood clash between Arijan Topallaj and Denis Frimpong. The pair have made no secret of their disdain for each other, with Frimpong’s special brand of trash talk clearly getting under the skin of Topallaj as the pair went face to face in a special meeting for OKTAGON MMA’s YouTube channel earlier this month.

The pair will do battle in Munich in a special 74kg catchweight clash that looks set to ignite the German crowd.

Another fighter sure to draw a big reaction is Shem Rock, though as fight week gets underway, his opponent remains a mystery. The Liverpudlian was set to face Lom-Ali Eskiev, but after the German contender was involved in a car crash, he was withdrawn from the event. He was replaced by Abdullo Khodzhaev, who fights under the moniker of “The Prince of Persia,” but he has also been pulled from the fight card.

It means Rock does not yet have a confirmed opponent for fight night in Munich, with OKTAGON’s social media channels hinting that an announcement is imminent.