The welterweight title only will be on the line for one fighter in the Oktagon 79 main event.
Oktagon MMA is without a welterweight champion heading into its next main event.
Ion Sordu, the promotion’s 170-pound titleholder, had his weight cut shut down by doctors Friday ahead of his title fight against challenger Andrej Kalasnik. The promotion said Sordu’s title has been stripped, but the fight remains in place. Only Kalasnik can win the belt due to Sordu’s weight infraction.
The promotion did not announce by how much Sordu was going to be above the welterweight title limit, but released a short video from Kalasnik, who said he took the miss as a sign of disrespect – and that he would not have taken the fight if it was taking place absent a belt, and in any other location than his home city.
Oktagon 79 is set for Saturday in Brno, Czech Republic, where Kalasnik (13-5) is from. His title shot against Surdu (16-7) comes on the heels of a three-fight winning streak, which was a major rebround from a 1-3 stretch he had over an 18-month period a couple years back.
Sordu won the vacant title 10 months ago with a first-round head-kick knockout of Kaik Brito. But rather than defend the title first, he took a fight up a division at middleweight against former UFC fighter Krzysztof Jotko in April and lost a decision.
But back down to welterweight for his first defense, his body still was all about that middleweight life and led to the loss of his title.
Check out Kalasnik’s short video statement below.
