INJURY OKTAGON 96: Klinkhammer out of title fight; Pastran in for Surdu, Haqparast out

OKTAGON 96 has lost its main event in fight week. Felix Klinkhammer says he hurt himself in one of his last training sessions before travelling to Munich, which ends his vacant welterweight title fight with Amiran Gogoladze, set for Oct. 31. Gogoladze had posted that opponents "keep running" from him, even in fight week. The first reports of the cancellation came from MMA ohne Maske, and Klinkhammer's own statement followed.

Klinkhammer, 33 and unbeaten, apologised to his opponent, OKTAGON, his team, sponsors and ticket buyers. He called it an ordinary training session, not a reckless one, and said the consequences were obvious even before a specialist confirmed them. He wrote that he will be ready to respond to anything once he recovers. He did not name the injury and did not say whether the title fight could be rebooked. As this is written, OKTAGON has not said whether the belt will be fought for on this card or what Gogoladze, listed as its number-one contender, will do instead.

The week began with a smaller blow in the same division. Ion Surdu withdrew with an unspecified injury, and Kevin Pastran stepped in against Jessin Ayari. Pastran, 32, is the FFC interim welterweight champion and a Venezuelan making his OKTAGON debut on short preparation. Ayari is 34, a UFC veteran who has fought Darren Till, and is ranked seventh in the division. According to MMA Fanatik, he has won both his OKTAGON fights, a TKO of Christian Stahl and a rear-naked choke of Niklas Stolze. Nothing announced makes the fight a title eliminator.

On Oct. 27 OKTAGON also announced that Fayaz Haqparast had suffered an injury and could not fight. His flyweight bout with Shawn da Silva was cancelled, with no replacement named. Haqparast is a German from Munich Allstars Gym with a 3-0 record, and he was due to fight in his home city. Da Silva is ranked sixth at flyweight.

The rest of the card is unchanged for now. Brian Manning, 6-1, still meets Marek Barti, 17-16, at middleweight, and Manning told My MMA News he expects "absolute domination." Gökhan Aksu vs. Niko Samsonidse and Lazar Todev vs. Simon Biyong also remain booked.

Watch for an OKTAGON statement on the title fight, on whether Gogoladze gets a new opponent before Saturday, and on whether da Silva is rematched.