Makhmud Muradov runs through Kotlar family in under three minutes at G MMA 1 in Prague

OKTAGON light heavyweight champion and former UFC middleweight Makhmud Muradov made quick work of the Kotlar family at G MMA 1: Samhain in Prague on Saturday, October 31. In the one-against-many MMA bout at Nova Spirala, the debut card of the new Czech freak-fight promotion G MMA, Muradov was declared the winner by TKO, according to the official results published by Fights.cz.

Czech outlet iSport reported that Muradov stopped five opponents from "team Kotlar" in under two and a half minutes, finishing all of them with strikes as they came at him one at a time. The bout had been billed as Muradov against six members of the family, including Diego Kotlar; posts on social media from the event also describe him running through "six" opponents, but iSport counted five finishes. G MMA has not published an official breakdown of each stoppage.

He took it easy on them

According to iSport, Muradov did not appear to be hunting for the heavy knockout shots he throws in regular sporting fights. Instead, he mostly kicked his opponents' legs or took them down, where they gave up after a few punches. A clip shared by FSI247 shows Diego Kotlar tapping after a single low kick.

Speaking in the cage afterwards, Muradov said (translated from Czech by iSport's report): "I'm here for work. I don't care who they put in front of me. I work, like every one of you. I want the best life possible for myself and my family." He added: "Respect to the guys for stepping in against me. They are not athletes."

iSport described the bout as a farce and reported that it earned Muradov five million Czech crowns, the best payday of his career. He had said before the fight that he set limits on the format, refusing to face multiple opponents at once and insisting that the Kotlars rotate in one at a time, with at least a minute between switches.

Rest of the G MMA 1 card

The Muradov bout was not the last fight of the night. Promoter and G MMA co-founder Jakub Jira closed the show by beating Matous Kaluba by first-round TKO in a boxing match fought in suits, per Fights.cz. Earlier, former politician Miroslav Sladek beat ex-presidential spokesman Jiri Ovcacek in an arm-wrestling contest, and Jiri Kajinek beat Martin Trnecka, also in arm wrestling. Other results included Spicy Paja by first-round TKO over Tady Janko in MMA and Viktor Dufka on points over Majkl Punk in a fight in knight's armour.

Criticism and what comes next

Muradov's appearance divided the Czech scene. OKTAGON co-owner Ondrej Novotny criticised him for taking part, and iSport noted that Muradov shared a cage with names far removed from the UFC cards he once fought on. Before the event, Muradov said he was not worried about public reaction: "A lot of people can say that this is rock bottom and a disgrace. People, if they offered you thirty or even twenty percent of what they offered me, you wouldn't even think about it and you'd take it," he told Sport in June, as quoted by iSport.

Muradov, 36, won the OKTAGON light heavyweight title with a second-round TKO of Will Fleury at OKTAGON 92 in Prague on August 1 and also holds the interim middleweight belt. His next scheduled fight is against middleweight champion Krzysztof Jotko for the undisputed OKTAGON middleweight title in the OKTAGON 100 main event at Prague's O2 arena on December 29.