It was one of the most viral stories of the Premier League season – Brighton hired an MMA fighter to help them with the intensity of set-piece duels. Flashscore had the chance to talk to that fighter, OKTAGON’s Christian Eckerlin, about that opportunity and the similarities between MMA and football, both sports he’s participated in at a high level.
Christian Eckerlin wears many hats. He’s a nightclub owner in Germany, a successful YouTuber, and first and foremost one of the most recognisable names of European MMA. But before all of that, he was an aspiring football player, too. ‘The King of Frankfurt’, as he’s known, played in the Junior Bundesliga as a youth player and made it as high as the third division as a professional. At the time, he was already combining football practices and combat sports training. And in the end, when he had to choose one way, he chose that of the fighter.
“A couple of things happened in the background then, with a change of coaching staff besides some other stuff… But the final decision was made after my first fight. I knew that I had to follow that path as I had never felt as much alive as in that moment. The rest is history,” Eckerlin tells Flashscore in an exclusive interview. Despite finding success in MMA, he still returns to football stadiums…
In 2024, he was the main event when OKTAGON sold out the Deutsche Bank Park, the home of Eintracht Frankfurt, in Eckerlin’s hometown, to set the record for the highest attendance ever for an MMA company.
In October, the company returns there to match their unique feat – and of course, the hometown hero Eckerlin will be there too.
Before that, he took a surprising ‘side job’ in the Premier League with Brighton.
“Fabian Hurzeler wanted to improve his team in that regard (set pieces). He felt it was a good idea to bring me in, so I was contacted by his coaching staff,” Eckerlin reveals. The German fighter believes his training was a welcome addition to the team.
“I did appreciate the modern facilities and the general attitude of the whole team – every player came out with an open mind and to learn. They made the workout very easy, and I’m sure they also had a good time. I feel they were very open to it. Fighting is something natural, and everyone is sort of attracted to it – football players are no different in that regard,” he recalls.
Eckerlin is a believer in cross-training and in the fact that many athletes can learn from a bit of MMA training.
“Any sport relies on hip positioning, but it’s our bread and butter in MMA and wrestling. I felt that implementing a couple of basic wrestling techniques could help them get a better composure and balance,” he explains about what he taught Brighton’s players.
Ever since his session with Brighton went viral on social media, Eckerlin hasn’t yet been contacted by any other club, but believes the Brighton appearance wasn’t the last time he worked with football players.
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Johnielos Hayhurst is the kind of writer who genuinely cannot publish something without checking it twice. Maybe three times. They came to athletic skills and techniques through years of hands-on work rather than theory, which means the things they writes about — Athletic Skills and Techniques, Momentum Moments, Pro Perspectives, among other areas — are things they has actually tested, questioned, and revised opinions on more than once.
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