Ion Surdu and Ronald Paradeiser are two of OktagonMMA‘s most prized fighters. Ion Surdu is the current Welterweight Champion, and Ronald Paradieser is the former Lightweight Champion. The pair of fighters are some of the highest-level fighters that Oktagonmma has, and now, they are in the same division.
Ronald Paradeiser’s move to welterweight
Following his defeat to Losene Keita in December, Paradieser decided it was time to move up to Welterweight. He had stated on multiple occasions that the weight cut to Lightweight was too tough on his body. Paradeiser will debut at Welterweight against the former Tipsport Gamechanger Winner, Bojan Velickovic on June 14th in Prague. Velickovic previously defeated Ion Surdu en route to his Tipsport Gamechanger Tournament win in 2023. Paradeiser will be seeking revenge for his best friend, Surdu.
Ion Surdu and Bojan Velickovic
Ion Surdu claimed the Welterweight strap with a brutal Headkick win over Kaik Brito in December, and will be competing in the Tipsport Gamechanger Middleweight Tournament. Ion Surdu faces Krzysztof Jotko on April 26th, for his opening round matchup. With the Tournament going on, Surdu will likely be tied up for the rest of 2024, leaving the Welterweight division open for some drama. Surdu showed interest in the Velickovic rematch, but couldn’t turn down the opportunity to earn one million euros.
Bojan Velickovic submitted Ion Surdu within 3 minutes in 2023, following a dramatic double knockdown. Velickovic has expressed that he would have liked this fight for an interim title. When his matchup with Paradeiser was announced, he replied to a comment on Instagram regarding the title with:
“Believe it or not, I said the same thing”.
Velickovic is the #1 contender, and a win for him guarantees a title shot, while a win for Paradeiser would make things interesting. Would we have another Dvalishvili-Sterling situation, or would they put their friendship aside for a matchup that many fans would be interested in seeing? The Welterweight Division has pivotal matchups in the next few Oktagon MMA cards, with Christian Eckerlin facing Robert Pukac at Oktagon 73 and Andrej Kalasnik facing Mate Kertesz this weekend at Oktagon 70. Christian Jungwirth is also expected to make his return in November of 2025. By the end of 2025, the Welterweight division will eagerly await Surdu’s return to defend his thrown.
