{"id":59113,"date":"2025-08-10T12:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T12:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/59113\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T12:33:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T12:33:10","slug":"brutally-cut-ufc-heavyweight-signs-for-rival-promotion-and-gets-instant-title-shot-against-double-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/59113\/","title":{"rendered":"Brutally cut UFC heavyweight signs for rival promotion and gets instant title shot against double champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Martin Buday has signed for Oktagon MMA just a week after his ruthless axing from the UFC.<\/p>\n

Buday was cut from the UFC<\/a> on July 30 after his manager informed him Dana White<\/a>‘s promotion would not be extending his contract.<\/p>\n

\"Buday<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Buday had worked his way up to 12th in the UFC’s heavyweight rankingsCredit: Zuffa LLC<\/p>\n

The decision left Buday ‘very sad and upset,’ as he had been victorious in seven of his eight UFC<\/a> fights, becoming the No. 12-ranked heavyweight after his last win over Marcus Buchecha just four days before his release.<\/p>\n

Buday went on record to say that he had received several offers following his unusual release from rival promotions PFL and Oktagon.<\/p>\n

It was then unveiled on Saturday night that the 33-year-old from Slovakia had decided upon signing with the latter.<\/p>\n

He entered the cage at Oktagon 74 in Prague to face off with the promotion’s heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, Will Fleury.<\/p>\n

Buday was then handed a contract and signed it instantly on the back of his new boss, Ondrej Novotny, who has spearheaded Oktagon, alongside co-owner Pavol Neruda, to over \u00a3200million in worth<\/a> since its 2016 birth.<\/p>\n

When is Martin Buday fighting Will Fleury?<\/p>\n

The pair are expected to meet in the main event of Oktagon 77 in Bratislava on October 4, although no official date has been announced.<\/p>\n

Before he made his UFC debut three years ago, Buday had fought under the Oktagon banner until 2021, defeating Kamil Minda in the same year to become the promotion’s heavyweight champion.<\/p>\n

He then reached the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series before embarking on a four-fight winning streak in MMA’s biggest league.<\/p>\n

Buday suffered his second career defeat at UFC 296 in 2023, but bounced back with three successive decision wins before his eventual release.<\/p>\n

He boasts a 16-2 pro MMA record and now takes on Ireland’s Fleury, who has been wanting to test his mettle against the world’s best heavyweights since taking Oktagon by storm last year.<\/p>\n

\"Buday<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Buday and Fleury are expected to fight for the heavyweight title at Oktagon 77 in OctoberCredit: OKTAGON MMA\"Buday<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Buday signed the contract in Prague on Saturday nightCredit: OKTAGON MMA<\/p>\n

After winning the light heavyweight title<\/a> in just his third Oktagon bout last December, Fleury made history in his most recent outing.<\/p>\n

He claimed a unanimous decision win over Lazar Todez in March to become the promotion’s first-ever double champion in their heaviest divisions.<\/p>\n

This put him a class well above his peers as he now prepares for the toughest fight of his career against Buday.<\/p>\n

Fleury, 36, spoke with talkSPORT.com ahead his last fight, outlining how he was inspired by fellow Irish MMA star Conor McGregor<\/a> growing up.<\/p>\n

“It was definitely inspirational to see somebody Irish doing it and making it that big,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t have an idol or didn’t want to be like [McGregor] at the time, but it definitely did show: ‘Hey, you can do this if you’re Irish.’<\/p>\n

\"Fleury<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Fleury became OKTAGON’s third two-division champion in Stuttgart five months agoCredit: OKTAGON MMA<\/p>\n

“And that was genuinely pretty inspiring at that stage.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin Buday has signed for Oktagon MMA just a week after his ruthless axing from the UFC. Buday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,32718,638,10325,23732,38884,23733,82,640,38883,38885],"class_list":["post-59113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-martin-buday","tag-mma","tag-mma-news","tag-oktagon","tag-oktagon-74","tag-oktagon-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-heavyweight","tag-will-fleury"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}