I borrowed £40,000 and quit my job to start MMA promotion… now it’s worth over £100m and selling out football stadiums

9 months ago 70

PAVOL NERUDA and Ondrej Novotny quit their jobs and took out huge bank loans to fund their MMA dreams – and now it has paid off.

The pair launched Oktagon MMA in 2016 and borrowed a combined £40,000 to get off their feet.

Oktagon MMA co-founders Pavol Neruda and Ondrej Novotny at Frankfurt’s stadium[/caption]

After just under a year they were offered €2million (£1.7m) to sell after sensationally bursting on to the scene.

But co-owners Neruda and Novotny held out and now value Oktagon at 50 TIMES that number.

Neruda got his start in MMA in 2009 when he began managing fighters he met while working as a bouncer during his uni days.

He then partnered with Novotny and the pair took out two separate £20,000 loans without daring to look back.

Neruda told SunSport: “We were so determined with our goal we didn’t even think about it.

“It was like, ‘OK how much money do we need? We can get this much money from sponsors, this money gives us this etc.’

“We needed to find a way and we needed to take a loan. We didn’t even think about it.”

Neruda masterminded a plot to have Czech and Slovakian fighters collide as part of a TV series culminating in a finale of bouts.

The teams lived, trained and ate together before colliding in Oktagon’s inaugural event for bragging rights.

It was such a success that just months later Neruda and Novotny were approached to sell their baby.

Neruda revealed: “It was super fast how we grew and immediately people wanted the same thing.

“One guy approached us and wanted to buy Oktagon, basically nine months after it started. He offered us €2million. I was like, ‘What the f***!’

“It was crazy but mine and Andrei’s dream was much bigger, you don’t want to sell it for €2million and let it go to someone else.

“We said no and he used his €2million against us to fund a competitor. It was a small promotion but he put his money there.”

Neruda, working as a project manager and Novotny in insurance, decided to quit their jobs to go all in on Okatgon.

“My family, they were like, ‘Are you sure? What will you do?’ said Neruda.

“Both my parents are employees all their lives so for them they were like, ‘So, you won’t have a job?’

“But now they’re super proud. They were proud then but for them it was hard to process that I was quitting my job.”

Oktagon has since gone from strength to strength and established itself as one of the leaders of European MMA.

They have just celebrated their 55th event and have TV deals across the continent, including on DAZN and Channel 4 in the UK.

Their biggest show was in Prague last June when Czech superstar Karlos Vemola lost to Patrik Kincl at the sold-out 18,000-seat O2 Arena.

But they attempt to go one better on October 12 having announced their largest-ever event at Eintracht Frankfurt’s 55,000-seater stadium.

So Neruda – who bravely turned down nearly £2m all those years ago – rests easy knowing his gamble paid off.

He said: “I think it could be £100million if you went on the stock market. I think it could be the overall value.”

Neruda with MMA star Karlos Vemola and and business partner Novotny[/caption]