Christian Jungwirth is a star in martial arts and an idol in Swabia. At his home game in Stuttgart he delivers what you expect from him: first a cage show, then pithy sayings. But his win against the Slovakian Pukač is probably just the warm-up for the next big thing.
Before the Oktagon 55 mixed martial arts event in Stuttgart, the local hero is omnipresent in the media. Christian Jungwirth also talks to ntv.de about his story: from Tuchel student to MMA star. The cage fighter looks back on an eventful past, but always emphasizes living in the here and now. His time as a footballer was a long time ago, but the cage fighter is now making history in martial arts. His fights are “always drama,” as his trainer Oliver Maier says. And drama grabs people, the thousands of spectators in Stuttgart also experience an emotional evening.
Announced as the “immortal Celt,” he is celebrated as he marches into the hall. The 37-year-old walks purposefully to the cage with the German flag around his shoulders. 15,000 people in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle rose from their seats, many pulled out their cell phones and belted out the introductory song “To Good Friends.”
In the fight against Robert Pukač, Jungwirth shows the qualities that set him apart: irrepressible will and an almost inexhaustible level of fitness. The Stuttgarter is in forward gear for the entire five rounds, driving the Slovakian ahead of him and firing punch and kick combinations. For every counterattack by Pukač, there are two from the German. Unusually often, Jungwirth goes for a takedown and wants to shift the fight to the ground. In many cases, the two fighters end up at the cage fence, Jungwirth making the fight unpleasant for the Slovak, who could only have gained points in the fight with a distance advantage. After five laps, Jungwirth raises his arms in the air and celebrates the confident victory on points.
The fact that the fight was scheduled for five rounds instead of the normal three was a prerequisite for Jungwirth to get into the cage again against the Slovakian. He won against Pukač around two years ago. This time there were apparently problems in communication given the fighting conditions: the German only found out in the press conference the day before the fight that there could be five rounds. Like preparing for a half marathon but ending up having to run a full marathon. “Someone should imitate me first,” said Jungwirth at the press conference after the fight. It’s also this “take it as it comes” mentality that earns him the fans’ favor.
In his home country, there were of course countless VfB Stuttgart supporters in the audience, some of whom also sang stadium songs and adapted them to Jungwirth. His old companion and ex-national player Andreas Beck, with whom Jungwirth played together as a youth at VfB, was also in the audience. But the Jungwirth hype goes far beyond Swabia. For the organizer Oktagon, the euphoria surrounding the MMA late starter is reason enough to plan the next big thing with the 37-year-old.
MMA record event takes place in October
Invasion of the Celts: In Frankfurt it could be even bigger.
(Photo: Octagon MMA)
On October 12th he is supposed to help fill up Frankfurt’s Waldstadion. The target is 55,000 spectators, an event that has never happened before on this scale in the young sport. His opponent will be the other big German MMA star: Christian Eckerlin. The Frankfurter sat in the audience in Stuttgart and watched Jungwirth’s dominance. “We’ll see each other on October 12th at the latest, when it’s: Stuttgart versus Frankfurt. Christian, where are you? I’m looking forward to it,” Jungwirth called out to his namesake, who is an ardent Eintracht supporter.
There was no immediate response from Eckerlin that evening. That wouldn’t have been the right time either, after all, the 37-year-old will be competing against the Czech Miroslav Brož at Oktagon 57 in Frankfurt at the beginning of May. The event in the festival hall (10,000 spectators) was sold out within a few days. The “King of Frankfurt” inspires the masses in a similar way to Christian Jungwirth. The organizers are therefore already talking about the “King of Germany” fight. It doesn’t really matter whether the Celt becomes a king in the end. With this summit meeting in front of a record-breaking event, Jungwirth will finally live up to his reputation as an immortal in MMA sports history.