OKTAGON 97 wrap: Igor Severino needs 47 seconds to hand Max Holzer his first loss and keep the bantamweight title out of German hands

The result is the latest turn in one of the more remarkable comebacks in European MMA. Severino’s UFC career ended in his debut in March 2024, when he was disqualified for biting Andre Lima and released by the promotion, later receiving a nine-month suspension from the Nevada commission. OKTAGON signed him later that year, and he has since rebuilt his career on its cards: a debut win over former champion Jonas Mågård, then a second-round stoppage of Khurshed Kakhorov in Hamburg in March to win the vacant bantamweight title. Now 11-1 and still only 23, he has added a statement defence against a fighter who arrived 12-0 and had finished most of the opponents put in front of him.

For Holzer, the loss is a brutal one to absorb. The 24-year-old from Hannover had dropped from featherweight, where he is ranked No. 2, for the chance to win a belt at 135 pounds, and he had the crowd firmly behind him. Forty-seven seconds leaves little to learn from and little to build on, and the wait for a German male champion continues one week after Jessin Ayari came up short against Amiran Gogoladze in Munich. Holzer remains one of the promotion’s most valuable homegrown fighters, and a return to featherweight is the obvious next step.

The champion’s family had a big night all round. Matheus Severino, Igor’s brother and a top-ranked flyweight, scored a first-round knockout of Mohammed Walid on the prelims, giving the Severinos two finishes on the same card. Swedish strawweight Josefine Knutsson, a UFC veteran, returned to the win column against Yasmin Guimarães, following her loss to Mileide Simplicio at OKTAGON 87 in April.

The card as a whole delivered in emphatic fashion. According to OKTAGON, ten of the 12 fights ended inside the distance, nine by finish and one by disqualification, and only two went to the judges. After a week in which OKTAGON 96 was reshaped by injuries, the Hannover card arrived intact and produced exactly the kind of night the promotion wanted.

The question now is what comes next for Severino. He has cleared everything in front of him since arriving in OKTAGON, and with a crop of contenders still developing in the division, the promotion has a champion who is young, dominant and, after Saturday, very hard to argue with.