Unbeaten Max Holzer (12-0) challenges champion Igor Severino (10-1, 1 NC) for the OKTAGON bantamweight title in the five-round main event of OKTAGON 97 on Saturday, November 7, 2026 at ZAG Arena in Hannover — the card starts at 18:00 Vienna time (doors 17:00).
Hannover already sold out. More than 11,000 fans will pack ZAG Arena on Saturday, and almost every one of them will be roaring for the same man.
Holzer grew up in this city. He asked for this fight. Across from him sits Igor "The Hannibal" Severino, the youngest male champion in OKTAGON history, bringing a finishing streak that has looked a level above everyone around him.
One leaves with the bantamweight belt. The other leaves with the first real scar of his career.
The Hannover kid who called out the champ
Max "Made in Germany" Holzer, 24, was born in Warburg and moved to Hannover at ten. Fightschool Hannover and coach David Palokaj pulled him off a rough path; Palokaj nicknamed him "Stifler" for the wild streak. He made his pro debut in this city on February 29, 2020 and has not lost since.
In OKTAGON he is 6-0. He submitted Corey Fry and Eemil Kurhela, stopped Mohammed Trabelsi, headlined for the first time by choking Deniz Ilbay in round four in Dortmund, then tore through UFC veteran Khalid Taha with a knee to the body in round one this May — back in Hannover — and took Performance of the Night. Right after Taha he called for Severino.
OKTAGON's own feature leans on hard numbers: seven submission wins, almost 44 minutes of ground control inside the promotion, and 2,443 days without a loss, the second-longest active streak on the roster. He is dropping from featherweight to bantamweight for the first time in OKTAGON and leaving the 66 kg division to gym partner Gjoni Palokaj. His younger brother Jan makes his pro debut on the same card.
Holzer's message to Severino, per OKTAGON's feature: "If you bite me, I'll knock your teeth out."
The youngest king from the Amazon
Igor Severino, 23, comes from Juruti in Pará and trains with Chute Boxe João Emilio in Bauru. He has fought professionally since fifteen, cleaned out Jungle Fight as flyweight champion, and earned a UFC contract off Dana White's Contender Series. That UFC run ended after one fight with a disqualification — still the only loss on his record. He turned the moment into a brand, took the "Hannibal" nickname and walks out in a mask.
OKTAGON has been kinder. He beat former champion Jonas Mågård by decision at OKTAGON 65 in Prague, then waited fourteen months through cancelled and reshuffled title bookings before stopping Khurshed Kakhorov by TKO in round two in Hamburg in March 2026. At 22 he became the youngest male champion in promotion history. In June in Bratislava a champion-vs-champion clash with flyweight king Zhalgas Zhumagulov was ruled a no contest after an accidental low body shot in round two; Severino kept the belt.
He has finished nine of ten wins. He sits fourth on OKTAGON's pound-for-pound list. He has never fought past round three. And he has never walked into an OKTAGON arena that wanted the other guy to win.
His brother Matheus is on the prelims too. Two pairs of brothers on one card is rare even by OKTAGON standards.
Styles, stakes and the home-crowd factor
Both men are listed at 170 cm. Both finish fights. Holzer's path is wrestling and top control: force Severino to defend takedowns, grind him into championship rounds the Brazilian has never seen, and let the Hannover roar do the rest. Severino's path is pressure and power: keep it standing, hunt the early stoppage the way he did against Kakhorov, and silence the building before the grappling exchanges pile up.
A sold-out ZAG Arena changes the temperature. Title fights already swing on moments; title fights in the challenger's hometown swing harder. Severino has looked the better pure athlete in his last two appearances. Holzer has looked unstoppable in front of German crowds and has already gone into a fourth round once. The belt has never been defended in a room this hostile for the champion.
Co-features and the prelims change
The main card underneath the title fight is stacked.
Gjoni Palokaj vs. Zafar Mohsen pairs the No. 4 and No. 3 featherweights. Palokaj, Holzer's gym partner, is coming off a first-round knockout loss to Mago Machaev after a long decision streak. Mohsen is 2-0 in OKTAGON with a decision over Samuel Bark and a first-round KO of Richie Smullen.
Ozan Aslaner vs. Denis Frimpong is the grudge match. OKTAGON says the two have been trading heated messages for months. It is booked at a 72 kg catchweight. Per Sherdog, Aslaner enters at 11-6-1 and Frimpong at 8-4. Aslaner arrives off wins over Tichota and Lengál; Frimpong, "The Menace," brings the psychological warfare and a gas tank OKTAGON loves to advertise.
Elsewhere, undefeated prospects Justin Detzel and Kacper Frątczak collide at middleweight, Karol Ryšavý meets Samuel Bark at featherweight, and Daniel Makin faces Petr Bartoněk at welterweight.
One late change matters for the prelims. Abdul Karim Badakhshi withdrew with an injury. Mohammed Walid (8-6), billed by OKTAGON as a dangerous finisher, steps in on short notice against Matheus Severino (15-5). The bout was originally booked at flyweight and now lands at bantamweight.
The card starts at 18:00 Vienna time on Saturday, November 7 (doors 17:00), live on OKTAGON.TV, with RTL+, TVP Sport and DAZN also carrying the show.
Prediction
Severino is the sharper finisher and the proven champion. Holzer is the unbeaten local with the wrestling numbers and a building that will try to carry him across the line.
Over five rounds in Hannover, the grappling volume and the crowd tip it.
Pick: Max Holzer by decision or late submission.
If Severino finds the early power shot, none of that matters. That is the live underdog path. The safer championship read is that Holzer's top game and home heat finally put a German name on the bantamweight belt.
Make your pick in the free Pugna MMA app — live round-by-round results and a free no-money prediction game in eight languages.
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This article was generated with AI and may contain errors.