OKTAGON’s bosses are becoming veterans of putting on stadium-sized MMA events.
Recent weeks have seen Dana White tease an “impossible” UFC event for 2027 that still remains a topic of a lot of speculation.
One scenario that seems unlikely is a stadium event from the top MMA promotion despite how much fans have called for this over the years.
White has never been shy about why he dislikes these venues for combat sports, but a different promotion has fully embraced them with incredible success.
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Pavol Neruda believes other MMA promotions don’t do stadiums because of the cost attached
In 2024, European MMA promotion OKTAGON brought over 59,000 fans to the Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany for a remarkable spectacle.
Following several other stadium shows since then, they are returning to the same venue on September 26 for OKTAGON 94, and it appears they will sell even more tickets this time.
Pavol Neruda, who co-founded the promotion with Ondrej Novotny, recently spoke to Bloody Elbow about why the likes of Dana White are so against putting on events of this scale.
While the UFC president has spoken in the past about how the size can take away from the fan experience, Neruda suggests that there’s a different reason why most promotions stick to arenas.
“I probably know why they don’t like it because it’s much more complicated regarding production,” he said. “It’s a big challenge. It’s much more expensive so your revenue is much lower than if you do the arena.
“If you do an arena, it’s much simpler. Everything is there… Everything is like multiplied by three or four so definitely these are the reasons why the promoters don’t like it as much but we are doing it because we are so passionate about it.”
Neruda acknowledges that there are benefits to arenas in the same way that fans get benefits for watching an event from home instead of being there in person.
However, it’s his belief that “the more fans the better”, with OKTAGON continuously learning ways that they can make these events feel even more special for those in attendance.
The most impressive aspect of OKTAGON’s stadium shows is their roster
It’s clear from any of their events that OKTAGON puts a lot of emphasis on live production and making events feel like a night of entertainment alongside the fights.
However, what’s most impressive about these huge cards they’ve been able to put together is the roster they’re doing it with.
OKTAGON 94 on September 26 has several former UFC fighters like Karlos Vemola and Marc Diakiese on it, but not exactly the worldwide household names that you’d expect for an event of this magnitude.
The promotion has largely been able to fill out these huge venues with homegrown stars and the reputation they’ve earned with the European fans.
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