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OKTAGON 94 Breaks German TV Ratings Records With Frankfurt Stadium Show
OKTAGON 94 gave RTL its biggest MMA audience shares yet on Saturday night, with a twist the Frankfurt crowd may not have wanted: local headliner Christian Eckerlin lost in the first round. RTL says its free-to-air broadcast reached a record 20.1% share among viewers aged 14 to 49, while its share among 14- to 59-year-olds hit a separate high of 12.5%.
Around 922,000 people watched at the broadcast’s peak. Those are preliminary television figures, not a total for everyone who followed the event. The September 26 show took place at Deutsche Bank Park, where OKTAGON drew a reported 59,148 spectators for its 2024 event.
OKTAGON 94 Makes TV History on RTL
The promotion returned with Eckerlin facing former welterweight champion David Kozma in an 80kg catchweight main event. RTL+ carried the full card in Germany, while RTL‘s free-to-air coverage began late in the evening. For Eckerlin, the homecoming ended with two seconds left in round one. Kozma caught him in a rear-naked choke and secured the submission at 4:58.
🚨 OKTAGON BREAKS TV RECORDS ON FREE TO AIR RTL!
Our Frankfurt stadium show, OKTAGON 94, delivered record-breaking TV ratings on Free to air RTL on Saturday night!
🏆 20.1% audience share among viewers aged 14-49 – a new all-time record!
📈 12.5% audience share among viewers… pic.twitter.com/5LqbMconwN
— OKTAGON (@OktagonOfficial) September 27, 2026
The Czech veteran arrived having won his previous two fights; Eckerlin had returned to winning ways in March after consecutive losses. Instead of another stadium win for Frankfurt’s star, viewers saw Kozma add Eckerlin to his record. The other two fights near the top of the card gave the crowd mixed fortunes.
Frankfurt’s Max Coga, competing for the first time in two years after a hand injury, beat Christian Jungwirth by unanimous decision. Karlos Vémola then stopped Frederic Vosgröne with punches at 4:50 of round two. Vémola had come out of retirement for the matchup; Vosgröne entered at 5-0, with every professional win coming by submission. RTL’s numbers climbed as the night went on.
One ratings breakdown put the broadcast at roughly 540,000 total viewers when it opened around 10:45 p.m., with a 7.7% share among 14- to 49-year-olds. Later, that younger-group share reached 20.1%. RTL’s separate peak figure of 922,000 refers to the highest live audience it recorded; it should not be read as the number who watched the whole show.
There was plenty happening before the televised finish. Fedor Duric beat former UFC fighter Marc Diakiese by unanimous decision, while Hugo Vach knocked out Deniz Ilbay at 2:23 of the first round.
Jaime Cordero stopped Robert Pukač with punches late in round one, and Tamerlan Dulatov won by triangle-choke technical submission against Nikola Janković after 1:24. Raul Lemberanskij took a unanimous decision over Roman Paulus, and Michael Obodozie stopped Oskar Staszczak just 64 seconds into their fight. In the card’s Stand & Bang contest, Edmon Avagyan stopped Dominic Schober by first-round TKO.
The RTL result builds on OKTAGON’s earlier free-to-air outings. RTL says OKTAGON 85 in March reached an 11.4% share among 14- to 49-year-olds and peaked at about 904,000 viewers. Saturday’s 20.1% share is a new high for that age group.