When OKTAGON MMA unveiled the Tipsport Gamechanger pyramid at a press conference Thursday, in which 16 fighters would split more than $24 million between themselves, promoter Novotný said that while most fighters nodded immediately, one declined the offer. But of course he didn’t want to reveal who it was.
However, the person in question applied himself. “I rejected it. Probably the only one, according to what Ondra (Novotný) said.” revealed Samuel “Pirate” Krištofič in his last video and explained the reasons why he made that decision.
“Because it’s 77 and I said to myself that I don’t want to do much here. Mainly, the matches are two and a half months in a row, so even the drainage would not be easy. I thought for a long time whether to go for it, but in the end I it showed that if I didn’t win the first two matches, it wouldn’t be financially interesting for me. I’d be several thousand euros in the red depending on the contract I’ve wrestled now, that my reward increases after each victory. Like every wrestler, I guess.”
300,000 euros awaits the winner. But he will have to win four tough matches in a few months. Losers in the first round will receive 15,000, in the second 40,000, elimination from the semi-finals 80,000 and the imaginary “silver medalist” 130,000. Of course, this may not be so attractive for the biggest stars, as Krištofič confirms.
“If I hadn’t progressed through the first two rounds, it would have been a lot of work in terms of weight, a lot of pain in draining. It’s really not fun to drain to 77. And when I also calculated that I still risk earning less than in 84 for the classic and I can go for the title there, so I decided to drop the Gamechanger and focus on the 84.
Even though when I see the promos and all the names that are there, I’m attracted to it. Because fighting the best in that pyramid would be very interesting for me.
And I have to say that if it was only about one of those two things – that I sacrifice only the weight or only the money, then I’ll probably go for it. But when I considered it, it would also be a lot of work with making weight and it’s not even the healthiest for the body to dehydrate so many times… Plus you’re risking some of your sure paycheck and going into something that won’t actually bring you that, what have you built… So I thought to myself, what would be the point of going there to recharge in this direction? Even Janka is not excited about the 77, because she saw with her own eyes how I looked the last few days during the drainage and so on. She is also better that I made this decision.”
Patrik Kincl, the reigning middleweight champion (84 kg), admitted at the press conference that participation in the Tipsport Gamechanger will be very demanding, but he decided to jump into the pyramid. Getting to the top will be extremely difficult, because the starting sixteen will be full of very dangerous fighters. Newly crowned champion Kaik Brito, who after Saturday’s performance will be among the big favorites, was added as the last, eighth.
The first round is scheduled for March 4 in Ostrava, an equal half of the fighters have not yet been announced, but it should mainly be fighters who have not yet fought in the Octagon. So we’ll see who the promoters manage to lure.
