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Two injury withdrawals reshape Oktagon 96's top fights before Munich card

Jessin Ayari replaces an injured Felix Klinkhammer in the promotion's vacant welterweight title fight against Amiran Gogoladze, and Rene Runge steps in against Gokhan Aksu, after Oktagon confirmed two withdrawals days before its Oct. 31 SAP Garden event.

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An elevated view of SAP Garden's curved, column-ribbed arena facade with its sign visible, seen from a wooded hillside in Munich's Olympiapark, with city rooftops and trees in the foreground and background
SAP Garden in Munich, pictured from the nearby Olympiaberg in 2026, hosts Oktagon 96 on Oct. 31, including the promotion's reshuffled welterweight title main event. Display crop and resize applied.Mike is Michi / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Oktagon MMA confirmed Tuesday that two fighters withdrew from its Oct. 31 card at SAP Garden in Munich because of injury, forcing a new main event and a reworked co-feature days before the show, according to Cageside Press.

Felix Klinkhammer, unbeaten at 11-0, is out of his scheduled fight for the vacant welterweight title against division leader Amiran Gogoladze (18-3). Oktagon's own matchmaking pages now list Jessin Ayari (19-6) as Gogoladze's new opponent, and the promotion has renamed the show Oktagon 96: Gogoladze vs. Ayari. Ayari, ranked seventh at welterweight, fought in the UFC from 2016 to 2020, going 1-3 there before his release, a run independently confirmed by his Wikipedia page. He has won his last three bouts since returning to Europe's regional circuit.

The title was vacated earlier this year when previous champion Kaik Brito left the promotion for a shot at Dana White's Contender Series, according to LowKick MMA. Gogoladze, now ranked No. 1 at welterweight, has won four straight fights in Oktagon, including a first-round knockout of former champion Ion Surdu in April.

The card's other ranked bout also changed hands. Niko Samsonidse, the No. 4-ranked lightweight who stopped Denis Frimpong in 54 seconds in a June bout, withdrew from his fight against Gokhan Aksu, the division's No. 3. Oktagon's listing for Aksu now shows him facing Rene Runge (14-8-1) instead, moving the bout outside the lightweight rankings.

Neither Oktagon nor the fighters have publicly detailed the injuries. Cageside Press reported the promotion was still searching for a replacement for Samsonidse's bout when its story published Oct. 27; Oktagon's site has since listed Runge in that spot.

Oktagon 96 streams live from SAP Garden on Oct. 31, with the rest of the previously announced card unaffected by the changes.

The source file

Reporting & references

Follow the original reporting and records behind this article.

  1. Oktagon MMAOktagon 96: Gogoladze vs. Ayari
  2. Oktagon MMAJessin Ayari fighter profile
  3. Oktagon MMAAmiran Gogoladze fighter profile
  4. Oktagon MMAGokhan Aksu fighter profile
  5. Oktagon MMANiko Samsonidse fighter profile
  6. Cageside PressHalloween Horror! Injury Bug Devastates Oktagon 96's Top Two Fights
  7. WikipediaJessin Ayari
  8. LowKick MMAAmiran Gogoladze v. Felix Klinkhammer Set for Vacant Oktagon Welterweight Title Fight in Munich

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