Eckerlin has been the poster boy for German MMA in OKTAGON, and was crowned “King of Germany” when he defeated fellow German fan-favourite Christian Jungwirth in a huge stadium show in Frankfurt at OKTAGON 62 last year.
Matched against Croatia’s Truscek, who was making the walk for the 84th fight of his 18-year career, much was expected of Eckerlin, but nobody told Truscek, who delivered a superb performance as he won the battle on the feet, threatened to finish Eckerlin with a mounted guillotine choke, then eventually finished the job with a vicious flurry of elbows that forced referee Marc Goddard to step in and wave off the contest at the 3:34 mark.
In the co-main event, German MMA starlet Alina Dalaslan continued her rise with a unanimous decision victory over German MMA veteran Katharina Lehner, then hinted at a switch of weight classes to chase the promotion’s 125-pound title.
Dalaslan started steadily but, despite seemingly being outworked by Lehner in the opening round, OKTAGON’s open scoring showed that he actually took that round in the eyes of two judges.
Rounds 2 and 3 saw Dalaslan grow in confidence as she increasingly loaded up on her shots as the bout progressed as she ran out a comfortable winner on the scorecards after three hard-fought rounds.
After her win, Dalaslan announced a possible move to 125 pounds to take on Slovakia’s number-one flyweight contender Veronika Smolkova for the vacant OKTAGON women’s flyweight title.
Also on the main card, Turkish heavyweight contender Kasim Aras outworked Italy-based Cameroonian contender Simon Biyong over three tough rounds to put himself into contention. And he’s likely to be matched up with the night’s other big heavyweight winner, Germany’s Patrick Vespaziani, who stopped late replacement opponent, Olutobi Ayodeji Kalejaiye, in the first round.
There were also main card victories for middleweight Cihad Akipa, who stopped David Piechaczek via second-round TKO, and for Arijan Topallaj, who outpointed Hassan Kayani in their 163-pound catchweight contest.
On the preliminary card, rising welterweight contender Tamerlan Dulatov finished Brazil’s Henrique Melo in just 52 seconds, while Czech veteran Marek Bartl produced one of the knockouts of the year with a spectacular spinning back elbow finish of Kennedy Rayomba.
Bartl made no secret of his wish to face German fan-favourite Christian Jungwirth by walking out to “The Celt’s” walkout music, with a shaved head like Jungwirth’s, and then calling for a fight with the Stuttgart native, who was stood cageside.
OKTAGON 78: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Ivica Truscek def. Christian Eckerlin via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 3:34
- Alina Dalaslan def. Katharina Lehner via unanimous decision
- Kasim Aras def. Simon Biyong via unanimous decision
- Cihad Akipa def. David Piechaczek via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:12
- Patrick Vespaziani def. Olutobi Ayodeji Kalejaiye via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 2:23
- Arijan Topallaj def. Hassan Kayani via unanimous decision
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Tamerlan Dulatov def. Henrique Melo via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:52
- Marek Bartl def. Kennedy Rayomba via knockout (spinning back elbow) – Round 1, 2:59
- Samuel Chavarria def. Aleksandar Stefanovic via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 2:19
- Altin Zenuni def. Marcel Masa via unanimous decision
- Michael Obodozie def. Chiril Negru via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:19
