Lukas Podolski has scored a plethora of important goals in his footballing career, but walking to the cage at Oktagon 62 with the ‘King of Germany’ belt is likely a memory that will last a lifetime.
The former Bayern Munich and Arsenal star enjoyed an incredible evening as he paraded around with the championship in front of a raucous crowd.
Lukas Podoloski presented ‘The King of Germany’ belt to Christian Eckerlin at Oktagon 62
On Saturday evening, Oktagon MMA made history, breaking the world record for the highest-attended MMA event of all time, with a whopping 59,000 fans packing into the Deutsche Bank Park football stadium in Frankfurt, Germany.
To make the night even better for those in attendance, Lukas Podolski entered the cage before the main event and held the King of Germany belt for which the two main event participants would compete.
The headline attraction pitted together two former footballers with enormous fanbases.
Hometown hero, Christian Eckerlin, previously dazzled crowds in Germany’s third division with SV Darmstadt, before transitioning to MMA and gaining enormous support in his city.
His opponent, Christian Jungwirth, who previously showcased his talent in Stuttgart’s youth team as a goalkeeper, invaded the venue with an army of passionate fans from the very same city he represented during his playing days.
The pair created an atmosphere like no other, putting it all on the line to claim the bragging rights.
Over the course of five rounds, despite a resilient effort from Jungwirth, Eckerlin ultimately showed his class, dominating every single round en route to winning a unanimous decision and claiming the belt that officially declares him MMA royalty in his homeland.
But while lifting the belt above his head was nothing short of exceptional for the newly-crowned champion, his victory meant a great deal more than mere materialism.
As a child, Eckerlin always dreamed of competing in Frankfurt’s stadium, and while that ambition didn’t come to fruition during his time as a professional footballer, through hard work and determination, he made it happen as a fighter, writing his name into the MMA history books forever.
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Featured Image Credit: Oktagon MMA
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