Gjoni Palokaj is still ranked No. 1 in the OKTAGON featherweight division, even after Mochamed Machaev knocked him out in the first round of a title fight at Oktagon 91 on 11 July 2026. He fights again on 7 November at Oktagon 97 in Hanover, Germany, against Zafar Mohsen.
Gjoni Palokaj's record and where he stands
Palokaj is 31, stands 173 cm and fights out of Fightschool Hannover. His record is 13-4-0, and he has been a professional since February 2016. In the OKTAGON featherweight rankings he sits at #1, the same spot he held before the Machaev fight.
The loss to Machaev is the only mark on his current form: he is on a one-fight losing streak, and four of his last five went his way. The knockout came with punches at 2:34 of round one.
How the wins came
Palokaj is a points fighter. Of his 13 wins, seven came by decision, four by KO or TKO and two by submission. That gives him a finish rate of 46%, counted as the share of wins that ended by KO, TKO or submission.
The recent run leans even harder on the judges. Before the Machaev fight he won six OKTAGON bouts in a row on the scorecards, from Jaroslav Pokorný in February 2024 to James Hendin in January 2026. His last stoppage win was a first-round TKO of Amir Shah Bayat at We Love MMA 65 in May 2023, at lightweight.
His four defeats came in different ways: one by KO or TKO, one by submission and two by decision.
Between those six decisions sits a catchweight bout against Karol Arteaga at Oktagon 60 in September 2024, and every other fight in the sequence was at featherweight. Wins over Jakub Batfalský and Marco Novák, both on the scorecards, are what kept him at the top of the rankings. He has no fight-night bonus awards on his record.
Last five fights
| Date | Opponent | Result | Method | Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Jul 2026 | Mochamed Machaev | Loss | KO (punches) | 1 |
| 17 Jan 2026 | James Hendin | Win | Decision (unanimous) | 3 |
| 13 Sep 2025 | Jakub Batfalský | Win | Decision (unanimous) | 3 |
| 5 Apr 2025 | Marco Novák | Win | Decision | 3 |
| 9 Nov 2024 | Karol Ryšavý | Win | Decision | 3 |
Every win in that table went the full three rounds. The one fight that ended early is the one he lost.
What the strike numbers say
Across the five fights with measured stats, Palokaj lands 53.4 significant strikes per fight and 2.0 takedowns per fight, with 0.2 submission attempts. Those are the numbers of a volume striker who mixes in wrestling to win rounds, and they fit a record built on decisions. That is also why the Machaev result stands out: a fighter who wins by accumulating work has little to fall back on when the exchange ends in the first round.
Zafar Mohsen in Hanover
The Machaev fight is the only title fight among his recent bouts, and the only one in the table above that did not reach the third round.
Mohsen arrives at 15-4-1. The bout at Oktagon 97 is not a title fight and Palokaj is not on the main event, but it is his first chance to answer the Machaev knockout, and it takes place in Germany, on 7 November.
A win keeps the top-ranked featherweight at the head of the rankings and in the conversation for another title shot. A second straight loss would put his place at #1 in real doubt.
In this story
This article was generated with AI and may contain errors.