Makhmud Muradov is spending Halloween in Prague fighting six people. The former UFC fighter, now a two-division OKTAGON champion, headlines G MMA 1: Samhain tonight (October 31) against six members of the Kotlar family, and Bloody Elbow reported that the bout appears to have no rounds and no time limit. The card airs on Gecko TV PPV, with 13 matchups scheduled and the first one going off at 6PM GMT.
How the main event actually works depends on which outlet you trust. Zamin reported that all six opponents will fight Muradov at the same time. iDNES described something closer to a tag-team setup, where the six can rotate in and out but each one has to stay in there with Muradov for at least one minute before switching. Bloody Elbow called the iDNES version far more likely. For the sake of Muradov’s ribs, let’s hope so.
This is G MMA’s first event, and the promotion has clearly decided weird is the brand. The card is stacked with oddball pairings, including a bout the promotion announced between two political figures and several other multi-man fights. It’s also running the same night as UFC Vegas 123 at the Apex, where fans have been encouraged to show up in costume for a contest. Prague got the stranger end of the deal.
Why the Timing Is Strange
Muradov, 36, is coming off arguably the best night of his career. At OKTAGON 92 in August he stepped in on short notice against Will Fleury, who was unbeaten in the promotion, and rallied for one of the comebacks of the year to take the light heavyweight title and become a two-weight champion. The stoppage was controversial, and a rematch looked like the obvious next booking.
OKTAGON went another direction. Muradov’s next title assignment is Krzysztof Jotko at OKTAGON 100 in December.
Fleury hasn’t let it go. The Irishman wrote on Instagram that G MMA offered him front-row seats in Prague plus a face-off with Muradov after the fight, and he claimed Muradov turned it down and went to the promotion to keep him away. “Guess who refused to do the face off and then ran to Oktagon and tried to get me banned attending?” Fleury wrote. Muradov’s side of that hasn’t surfaced in the reporting.
Quick Take
I’ll be honest, part of me loves the sheer audacity of this. Most of me is staring at the phrase “no time limit” and getting nervous. My least favorite thing in this sport is a referee who waits too long, and here there’s no bell to bail anybody out. Every stoppage call rests on one official watching fresh bodies tag in while a 36-year-old champion keeps grinding. If the iDNES rules hold and the Kotlars are swapping out every minute, Muradov is giving up the one thing he can’t fake, which is recovery time. And he’s doing it with a title defense against Jotko sitting on the calendar for December. Win this and it’s a great story he tells forever. Tweak a knee against the fourth guy in the rotation and OKTAGON 100 loses its headliner.
