Pavol Neruda bettered the UFC’s attendance record in October by selling more than 58,000 tickets for OKTAGON 62 in Frankfurt.
Neruda is one of OKTAGON’s founding members and has spearheaded the organisation into becoming Europe’s largest MMA promotion over the last few years.
Neruda [Left] alongside fighter Christian Eckerlin and Oktagon partner Ondrej NovotnyOKTAGON MMA
In what originally started as a reality TV show in June 2016, Neruda, alongside co-founder Ondrej Novotny, had no idea just how big their company would become.
After they sold close to 30,000 tickets for a Prague event at the Fortuna Arena in June, Neruda had the confidence to go on to bigger and better things.
The former bodyguard and stock market trader says he wants to turn his promotion into the ‘Champions League of MMA’.
He also separates OKTAGON’s brand identity from rivals like the PFL and UFC, the sport’s premier promotion headed by Dana White, due to their family-friendly environment.
Speaking to talkSPORT MMA exclusively, Neruda referred to OKTAGON as the ‘Disney Channel of MMA’, saying his company isn’t afraid to have fun.
“You have one ultimate vision and passion – these two things are crucial,” he said.
“If you want to achieve something, [that goal becomes] your biggest motivation to wake up every day and push yourself to make it happen.
“My vision and my part is to be the real ‘Champions League of MMA’. By that, I mean it’s played in London or Barcelona, but the whole of Europe is watching.
“We see millions are watching each tournament, so [it raises the question] ‘How do you get there?”
OKTAGON sold 40,000 tickets in the first three weeks of tickets going on sale for their iconic Frankfurt show.
OKTAGON MMAOKTAGON 62 took place at Deutsche Bank Park, home of Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt[/caption]
And sold almost 60,000 ticketsOKTAGON MMA
The main event witnessed Frankfurt vs Stuttgart as Christian Eckerlin was victorious over Christian Jungwirth and crowned the ‘King of Germany’.
Elsewhere on the card, Irish heavyweight Will Fleury knocked out Pavol Langer and Patrik Kincl retained his middleweight title against Kerim Engizek.
“Crazy, crazy – It’s something you dream about, right? You start to plan it, put it all together, all the pieces of the puzzle,” Neruda added.
“[The] last weeks, months were super intense, because we have 15 tournaments this year, but this one was, you know, ‘the’ tournament.
“We’re thinking anything above 40,000 will be great. And not just financially, but how it looks. It’s such a big arena if you have 20,000 people, It’s kind of empty and you want to make it a great show.
“You want to make people have fun and feel special, so after we sold 40,000 in the first three weeks, we were like, ‘Wow, the momentum is great’, so we knew at the time we would sell out this thing for sure.”
It’s easy to sense where Neruda’s passion comes, speaking from a studio based in Bratislava, Slovakia, where OKTAGON 63 will take place on November 9.
Former Arsenal player Lukas Podolski presented the King of Germany main event beltOKTAGON MMA
And British star John Newman performed in the halftime showOKTAGON MMA
Irish light heavyweight Will Fleury knocked out his opponent in 81 secondsOKTAGON MMA
It is here – the only set of rental studios in Slovakia, each offering different designs, and fully automates features – where Neruda also runs his own podcast.
“Me and Ondrej are storytellers and we have been storytellers since before we founded OKTAGON,” he said.
“That’s how we communicated with the fans. We like these fighters and their stories so much that we want to share them with the world.
“We make people care about them. So, that’s why we have full arenas from the first fight. I believe no other promotion in the world has it like this.
“We have a very passionate crowd. Grandpa with grandson, boys and girls, it’s a very nice crowd.
“Thanks to this, we are very friendly and call ourselves the Disney Channel of MMA. We are not afraid to have fun, showing the human side of the sport. We see the fighters as very inspiring athletes.
“Someone who is facing their fears to go there and fight in front of such a big crowd. In this sport, your will must be so strong to face that and this is what we want to give to our fans.
“There are great examples of fighters who go and face their fears. So, I would say the package is different, It’s this Disney Channel kind of style.”
At OKTAGON 62, Neruda even recruited the help of songwriter-turned-DJ John Newman, who he says created a ‘big party in the middle of the tournament’.
“There were many new fans and I was curious if they will come for the first fight as they normally do at our events,” he added.
“You never know what to expect if there’s so many new fans, but they came from the first fight and cheered them on immediately.
“Football atmosphere is different when it is an arena compared to a football stadium. It’s slow, but more intense than the noise of the crows. So it was really amazing.”
OKTAGON MMA made its UK debut in November 2023, before hosting a Newcastle event in January.
In September, OKTAGON announced a major UK broadcast partnership with Channel 4 to stream all of its events.
Neruda confirmed that OKTAGON is likely to make a UK return next year in either Dublin, Manchester or London.
