A nasty injury caused a stoppage of a light heavyweight bout in Germany.
In the third round of their main card bout at Oktagon 44, which took place at Rudolf Weber-Arena in Oberhausen, Germany, Mateusz Strzelczyk and Rafael Xavier exchanged hard leg kicks simultaneously. The moment sounded like two baseball bats colliding, and the result was severe damage to Strzelczyk’s right leg.
After the exchange, Strzelczyk (14-14-1) stepped backward, and his right shin crumbled underneath him. Xavier (12-7) immediately recognized what happened and put both hands on his head in shock and disbelief as he turned away while the referee rushed in call a stop to the fight.
Although it’s not for the squeamish, you can watch video of the leg break below (via Twitter):
Rafael Xavier is finally able to finish Mateusz Strzelczyk in the third round by breaking his leg #Oktagon44 pic.twitter.com/8rn1MBQST8
— ScottishProblem (@ScottishProble) June 17, 2023
Due to the injury, Xavier, 32, was awarded the TKO victory at 2:47 of Round 3. The result was a return to the win column following a split decision loss to Pavol Langer at Oktagon 39 in February, although, it was not in the manner he expected.
Strzelczyk, 32, sees his three-fight stoppage winning streak come to a halt in devastating fashion.
Rafael Xavier 🇩🇪🇧🇷 defeats Mateusz Strzelczyk due to a nasty injury.
‘Kratos’ wants to get back into the light heavyweight title picture.
We wish Strzelczyk all the best in his recovery.
📺 https://t.co/TVP7NaDRbZ & DAZN pic.twitter.com/gQ3KwwN7ua
— OKTAGON MMA (@OktagonOfficial) June 17, 2023
