Europe’s $300million MMA promotion challenging UFC is only getting bigger – and this is why
Oktagon continues to push the boundaries of what is capable for a mixed martial arts promotion not named the UFC.
Even with the UFC‘s upcoming show at the White House, the European giant founded in 2016 is happy to stick in its own lane, shattering records along the way.
Having already broke the UFC’s record attendance for an MMA event in 2024, Oktagon celebrated another landmark achievement last weekend in Hamburg.
Oktagon 85 at Barclays Arena generated historic viewership figures in the German market, with the promotion featuring on free-to-air TV for just the second time as part of its broadcast deal with RTL.
The show switched to RTL for the final three fights of the card as bantamweight Raul Lemberanskij, hometown hero Christian Eckerlin and newly crowned champion Igor Severino all claimed victories in front of 14,000 fans.
Former UFC fighter Severino, who shared a win with his brother on the bill, became the promotion’s youngest ever champion in the main event at 22 years old.
In total, Oktagon 85 was watched by more than 1.2 million spectators from the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and reached a peak of up to 904,000 on RTL.
Oktagon co-owner Pavol Neruda says it was the highest numbers on the free-to-air station for the entire day, surpassing a Bundesliga football match from before the fight card.
Neruda sat down with talkSPORT.com this week to share insights into his business, which he wants to become the Champions League of mixed martial arts.
How much is Oktagon worth?
“I would say it’s somewhere around €250m ($290m) right now,” Neruda responded when asked to put a value on his promotion right now.
“Also, we have very positive results for the year 2026. We grew from €22m ($25m) to €30m ($34m) turnover—gross revenue—which is great.
“We are really becoming a big company and I would say this year will be even better because we are doing again the football stadium in Eintracht, Frankfurt.
“Frankfurt will be the biggest MMA tournament in the world this year by attendance.
“There is the UFC White House show, of course, but you know what I mean.
“We are expecting great sponsorship and broadcast deals, and we also have a very strong halftime show with a world superstar.”
After Eckerlin’s win at Oktagon 85, it was confirmed the German superstar would once again compete at Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park in September.
Two years ago, Neruda’s promotion surpassed the UFC‘s record for the most visited MMA event, as 60,000 fans witnessed Eckerlin crowned the king of Germany.
It surpassed the 57,000 Australian fans who watched Israel Adesanya knock out Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 in 2019.
“It was just amazing,” Neruda said of Oktagon 85.
“All of the fights on RTL were super interesting, so I’m very happy… RTL took it as a big success too!”
Oktagon’s deal with RTL runs out at the end of 2027, when they will be allowed a window to renegotiate a new deal.
RTL is privately owned by the Bertelsmann group, who have other broadcasters in Hungary, Holland and France.
Oktagon plan on taking full advantage of their strengthening relationship with the German free-to-air station to then expand into new countries in the future.
“The most-watched programme on RTL, it’s crazy to say that,” Neruda concluded.
“That’s what I would say, a big statement on the biggest channel in Germany.
“RTL is the second-biggest media house in Europe after the BBC, so it’s certainly something…
“At the end of 2027 we’ll negotiate the new deal with RTL and then the value of Oktagon can jump like crazy.”
Oktagon returns on April 11 for a historic first-ever event in Poland, headlined by a stand-and-bang rules fight between Michał Materla and Christian Jungwirth.
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