There are few cards that have gathered so many fighters from around the Nordics and put them on display at one event, but the debuting European Fighting Challenge has done it. Their first card has booked four Finns, two Swedes, and a Dane in their first outing going down this Saturday at the 7,000 seat Metro Areena in Espoo, Finland.
Outside of Cage Warriors 66, there are few events in recent memory that have invited more than a few other Nordic fighters outside of the host country, but EuroFC’s ambitious European expansion has put a stake in the ground announcing their Scandinavian arrival.
Headlining the card is Finland’s Tom Niinimaki (21-8-1) who hasn’t seen the inside of a cage in 21 months. Stoneface will face Jonathan Brookins (15-8) The Ultimate Fighter Season 12 winner. The UFC veteran matchup is a nice last minute matchup after American Johnny Bedford (22-12-1) dropped out of the fight earlier this week.
We aren’t done with the Finns, as the streaking Juho Valamaa (12-3) will be taking on his toughest challenge in former Bellator title challenge Karl Amoussou (22-7-2). The card will kick off with MMAViking.com’s 2015 prospect of the year Finn Aleksi Mäntykivi (9-4) taking on the undefeated Dane Søren Bak (7-0) in a super exciting Nordic matchup as the “The True Viking” returns to Finland for battle.
The fourth Finn of the card is Finn Toni Tauru (10-3-1) in a one-off fight outside of his ONE agreement. The Finn will be facing Marc Gomez out of Spain, who comes into the fight on a four fight winning streak and a 17-7, 1 N/C record.
Another UFC veteran in Sweden’s Andreas ‘Real Steal’ Stahl (10-2) is in for a battle when he faces a 23-year-old Georgi Valentinov (18-3).
The co-main event is another top prospect in Redline MMA’s big man Yosef Ali Mohammad (6-2), who will get a chance to avenge a KO loss to Brazilian Fernando Rodrigues Jr. (9-2).
