BREAKING NEWS: €1 Million Tipsport Gamechanger Reveals Middleweight Participants

The European MMA Champions League enters its third season in 2025 and this time, the middleweights will take centre stage!

A life-changing prize pot of €1 million will be up for grabs once again as the biggest MMA tournament on the continent returns for what promises to be another thrilling installment. The 16-man lineup is littered with stars as current middleweight champion, Kerim Engizek, top Czech talent, Matěj Peňáz, welterweight title holder, Ion Surdu, and promotional newcomer, Krzysztof Jotko, are all set to compete.

The Tipsport Gamechanger opening round matchups will take place across three events, with eleven countries represented, and are as follows:

OKTAGON 66 in Düsseldorf, Germany, on February 1Kerim Engizek (21-4) vs. Anthony Salamone (8-2)Matěj Peňáz (9-1) vs. David Zawada (19-10)

OKTAGON 67 in Třinec, Czech Republic, on February 22Piotr Wawrzyniak (13-6) vs. Marek Mazúch (9-2)Miloš Petrášek (13-7) vs. Mick Stanton (13-8)

OKTAGON 70 in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, on April 26Vlasto Čepo (12-3) vs. Erhan Kartal (12-2)‘Pirát’ Krištofič (17-6) vs. Wildcard (TBC)

Events to be confirmedIon Surdu (16-6) vs. Krzysztof Jotko (25-6, 1NC)Andreas Michailidis (16-8) vs. Mark Hulme (12-3)

As in previous years, there will also be reserve bouts booked so an athlete is ready to step up immediately if anything happens to any of the participants in the lead up to their bouts. Furthermore, ‘Lucky Loser’ fan voting will remain so after each round, the public get to vote for whoever they think deserves a second chance to potentially jump back into the bracket at a later date. At the end of the opening round, the eight athletes who remain will draw numbers at random before deciding who they want to fight in the quarter finals later next year.

“We are looking forward to the most competitive year of the European MMA Champions League so far,” said OKTAGON MMA co-founder, Ondřej Novotný. “Fans can get excited about the highest number of domestic fighters in the pyramid since we began the project and the tournament will expand to more events, which I cannot wait for!”

More news involving the middleweight tournament will be announced over the coming weeks. Be sure to follow OKTAGON MMA across all of our media platforms.

Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.