Oktagon 73 saw one of the wildest fights in promotional history, as well as maybe the most gruesome injury in promotional history, when Wahed Nazhand took on Faridun Shokhnazarov. In an absolutely wild set of exchanges, Nazhand was dropped, hit with an accidental headbutt, which broke his jaw, and still managed to pull off a dramatic kimura. This won him the Tipsport Performance bonus of the night, but most of that will go to his dentist.
Wahed Nazhand breaks his jaw and loses teeth
Wahed Nazhand had the whole crowd in the palm of his hand. The arena erupted when he walked out and was introduced. In a back and forth fight, Nazhand was dropped, and while his opponent was trying to find a finish on the ground, Nazhand was able to reverse position and set up a nasty kimura, leading to the tap. After the fight, it is believed that he pulled out some of his top teeth when he removed his mouthpiece, to go along with his broken jaw. A nasty photo was released on social media, as well as a video of him reacting to the picture of his jaw, was posted on the OktagonDeutschland Instagram page.
Nazhand will now enter a loaded top of the Welterweight division. As we saw on the weekend, the rankings are full of killers, but he is closing in on that top 10. He may have to face a lengthy period of time out of the cage, but fans will be highly anticipating his next fight. “Stone Eater” has an extremely fan friendly style, and will be someone Oktagon will be looking to give a push to in the future. A matchup with #9-ranked Mate Kertesz could serve to be a fun fight, but could also potentially be too soon for Wahed Nazhand.
