The top of the bantamweight tree headlines the return of OKTAGON to the United Kingdom, as former champion Jonas Magard takes on grappling specialist Jack Cartwright.
Former champion Magard won the title in front of a stunned Prague crowd, defeating hometown favourite Filip Macek by unanimous decision in only his second fight in the promotion.
After a 17-month spell out due to injury, Magard returned to the cage to defeat interim champion and UFC veteran Gustavo Lopez, dropping the American with a sickening right hand before following up with ground and pound to finish the contest.
Despite an unsuccessful first title defence to Felipe Lima, Magard was never outclassed anywhere during the fight, and his ability to compete with his opponents excellent grappling is a telling sign of his overall quality.
In the role of challenger for this title matchup we have Jack Cartwright. A former Cage Warriors bantamweight champion, Cartwright also fought on Dana Whites Tuesday Night Contender Series losing a competitive fight to Jose Johnson.
A year out of competition followed, but Cartwright made a statement in his return, dropping Brazilian Junior Assis with a crisp jab before submitting him with a brutal Americana in the first round.
Mauling his opponent like he did is not uncommon for Cartwright, 9/11 of his wins have come in the first round as he wastes no time overwhelming his foes with dominant wrestling and powerful striking.
A fight between Magard and Cartwright is guaranteed to produce fireworks, Magard thrives on taking his opponent into deep waters and drowning them with pressure, and Cartwright never backs down from action often coming away from it with his opponents lying on the canvas.
OKTAGON 52 takes place in Newcastle, England on 27/01/2024 and will be live on DAZN from 17:00 GMT.