OKTAGON 96: Gogoladze and Ayari make weight; five miss on first attempt

OKTAGON 96 lost its top two fights in fight week and patched both with days to spare. The vacant welterweight title fight has a different challenger than the one fans were sold, and the show in Munich was rebuilt around him. On Friday the main event cleared its first hurdle: both title contenders hit the limit.

Felix Klinkhammer, listed at 11-0, said he was hurt in one of his last training sessions before travelling to Munich. He described it as an ordinary session, not a reckless one, and apologised to his opponent, the promotion, his team, sponsors and ticket buyers. He did not name the injury or say whether the fight could be rebooked. Before that explanation, Gogoladze posted that opponents keep running from him, even in fight week. After the replacement was announced he wrote that he does not care who stands in front of him.

For Gogoladze, the division's top-ranked contender, it is another disrupted title chance. The promotion's own preview said he had twice lost a title fight without entering the cage. Ayari is 34, a UFC veteran, and sits seventh in the division. He has won both of his OKTAGON fights, a TKO of Christian Stahl and a submission of Niklas Stolze. He gets the upgrade after being booked first against Ion Surdu, who withdrew injured, then against Kevin Pastran.

The lightweight co-feature was hit too. Niko Samsonidse, ranked fourth in the promotion and coming off a knockout of Denis Frimpong, is out injured. Runge, a former We Love MMA lightweight champion, takes the fight against Aksu, a former title challenger. With a lightweight title fight between Mateusz Legierski and Ivan Buchinger set for next month, Samsonidse had been close to a title shot of his own.

The weigh-ins brought more trouble further down the card. Nafuka was the biggest miss, and Klevets, Nessar, Hangs and Runge were also over on their first attempts. Klevets, 23, won his last OKTAGON fight with a spinning back kick KO of Kevin Enz, while Nafuka is coming off an August decision loss to Tomas Mudroch.

Watch for second weigh-in attempts and whether the five fights go ahead, and for whether Pastran gets a new opponent and Gogoladze and Klinkhammer are rebooked.