Berliner Korkmaz represents Türkiye
Software developer wants to conquer the MMA Champions League
By Michael Bauer
March 1, 2024, 7:09 p.m
In football, the Champions League is the sporting measure of all things. The mixed martial arts organizer Oktagon is taking a similar approach to martial arts. A fighter from Berlin also wants to cause a sensation in the strong lightweight MMA tournament.
When people talk about the Champions League in martial arts, they often think of the UFC. That’s probably true in terms of level, but there are no other parallels to the tournament of the best football clubs in Europe. The Czech organizer Oktagon MMA is more focused on the premier class and lets some of the best cage fighters on the continent fight in a knockout format for a prize pool of one million euros. This year’s Gamechanger tournament tree also includes a Berlin fighter, Attila Korkmaz, who is competing for Turkey. Although he will face a real challenge in the first round on March 2nd in Ostrava with lightweight champion Ronald Paradeiser, the software developer thinks he has good chances.
Korkmaz has already achieved victories in major organizations such as Bellator and UAE Warriors.
(Photo: OKTAGON MMA)
“I see it as a compliment that they put me against the champion in the first round,” says Korkmaz in an interview with ntv. His Slovakian opponent is a real veteran of the organization and was able to win the lightweight belt in December. The biggest challenge for the fighter from Berlin’s Spitfire Gym is not the fact that Paradeiser is champion, but rather his body type and fighting style. “He’s very big for the weight class and southpaw, which doesn’t happen that often. This is a special challenge for me and therefore exciting.”
“Privilege to compete for Türkiye”
Korkmaz (record 14 wins, 7 defeats) is a strategist in the cage and doesn’t want to let anyone look at his cards before the duel in Ostrava. But he spent several weeks preparing for the fight in Brazil. “MMA is a multidimensional sport,” emphasizes the 32-year-old. “I can’t rely on one strategy. I need different ways to end the fight.”
The fact that the Berlin native is running for Turkey is a privilege, he emphasizes. The sport isn’t that established there yet, “but it’s very well received. My friends in Turkey, my family, they go crazy when I get in the ring,” he says. Korkmaz describes MMA as a possible outlet for young people. He wants to make the sport more popular there and act as a role model.
The competition in the tournament is strong, the winner will storm to the top of the European lightweights. In addition to champion Paradeiser, featherweight titleholder Losene Keita will also compete in the tournament. The Belgian is moving up in weight, but he is one of the favorites for Korkmaz, who is also usually in the featherweight division. Especially because you have to maintain your weight over a long period of time. “It’s obviously much more difficult for guys who are losing weight. There shouldn’t be any fluctuations over a year. That’s a challenge.”
Rocky road to 300,000 euros
Korkmaz and the other participants will start in the round of 16, and there would be three more fights within a year if they make it to the final. The organizer also keeps a back door open if you lose in round one. You can return to the tournament via a lucky loser challenge via fan voting and another fight if one of the participants is injured or cannot make the weight.
With Marcel Grabinski and Hafeni Nafuka, two fighters are also competing for Germany. “Veteran” Grabinski already took part in the Gamechanger tournament at welterweight a year ago and could take advantage of his enormous experience. Nafuka is a newcomer at 20 years old, but has already fought eight professional fights and won all of them.
The journey in the tournament is long but worthwhile. In the final there will be prize money of 300,000 euros for the winner – an enormous sum for MMA fighters in Europe. Korkmaz would also be happy about the prize money – especially because he is doing an enormous balancing act for professional sport. He is a full-time software developer and the 32-year-old completes two units a day before and after work.
He also introduces this Online portal, where he offers MMA tutorials, unusual for a contact sport. Korkmaz speaks of “training systems” that he offers. “Not everyone has the privilege of living in a big city or being able to go to a qualified gym, like here in Spitfire. There are people who live in corners where there are no gyms at all.” With the platform he wants to give other people and trainers the opportunity to spread MMA knowledge.
The Berliner, who grew up with Taekwondo, offers an unusual mix when it comes to combining work and competitive sports. For him, this is also one of the reasons why he fits in so well with the Octagon and the MMA Champions League. “The organizer is hungry for interesting protagonists,” says Korkmaz. “Yes, and here I am. So: ‘Let’s go’.”