MMA Viking’s Official Nordic Rankings – March Update

2015’s first update of MMA Viking’s Official Nordic MMA rankings is here. We have taken into consideration all recent events including UFC, Bellator, Cage, Fight Night Finland, Trophy, Cage Warriors, IRFA, Superior Challenge, Invicta, and many other shows.

Heavyweight Rankings

Dropped out: Christian Colombo and Christian Golcic due to inactivity.

Summary: Nordic heavyweight division is still thin in number of fighters.  While we also track with Estonian MMA with the rising Denis Smoldarev (10-1-0), the Nordic big men are few.

Yosef Ali Mohammad takes the lead even though he hasn’t fought since May of 2014 when he submitted englishman Mike Neun in a minute at Superior Challenge 10.  Gigantic Mohammed is exceptionally athletic for a man of his size which alone makes him one of the most interesting prospect in the Nordics considering all weight classes.  The Swede has been battling with injuries lately but should return to action shortly.

Marcus “Caveman” Vänttinen experienced a rough welcome to heavyweight division at Cage 29 where the Finn as he was stopped by 3rd round TKO by the “Man Mountain” Jarjis Danho at Cage 29.

Denmark’s Nick Barno has started his pro career with two wins.  In February, Barno stopped England’s Rob Beech with strikes in the second round at GWFC 1 event.

Light Heavyweight Rankings

Contenders: Saku Heikkola (Fin), Magnus Strandner (Swe)
Dropped out: Marcus Vänttinen moved up to HW

Summary: Sweden’s superstar Alex “the Mauler” Gustafsson is in a league of his own at the Nordic light heavyweight division. The Swede extended his string of impressive performances at UFC London where he send British striker Jimi “Posterboy” Manuwa to oblivion with strikes in the second round.  Gustafsson is currently rehabing the injury that took him out of the rematch with Jon Jones. The Mauler has said that he will hold out for the title shot, but in reality he will probably lock horns with Anthony “Rumble” Johnson if the UFC has its way for the undisputed #1 contender spot.

Sweden’s Ilir Latifi took his second UFC win of the year at UFC Dublin with a quick knock out win over American newcomer Chris Dempsey. Latifi will welcome Polish Jan Blachowicz to the UFC at the UFC Sweden III in October.

Danish BJJ black belt Joachim Christensen won a hard fought decision over Sweden’s Matti Mäkelä at Superior Challenge 10 so the two switch places on our rankings.  Look for the Dane to return when Superior Challenge to defend his belt when the organization comes back to town later in the year.

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Middleweight Rankings

Contenders: Sadibou Sy (Swe), Mikko Rupponen (Fin), and Timo Suhonen (Fin)
Dropped out:  Tor Troeng (Swe) due to retirement.

Summary: The top Nordic middleweight ranking shuffles a bit as longtime mainstays Tor Troeng and Mats Nilsson hang up their gloves for good. Leader of the pack is Sweden’s Magnus Cedenblad who rides a three fight win streak in the UFC.

Hulking middleweight Magnus “Jycken” Cedenblad took his third straight UFC win in October 2014 at the UFC event in his hometown of Stockholm. The Swede had to dig deep against a tough Brit Scott Askham but in the end it was Cedenblad who got the judges nod.

Danish tank Mikkel Parlo drops down to second spot. Parlo is coming off a win at Bellator 115 on 4th of April. The Dane dominated American Johnny Cisneros for three rounds and took home a clear cut decision victory.  Parlo had knee surgery and won’t be in the cage soon.

Norwegian Jack Hermansson is on a meteoric rise and goes straight to third spot. After an unsuccessful stint at Bellator, Hermansson has stepped up his game and gone 4-0 in 2014 in Cage Warriors. In June he took the Cage Warriors welterweight belt with a quality win over tough Frenchman Norman Paraisy. In August Hermansson defended his belt successfully and knocked out Bulgarian challenger Deyan Topalski in the first round at Cage Warriors 71.

Welterweight Rankings

Contenders:  Andreas Ståhl (Swe), Johan Vänttinen (Fin),  Jonatan Westin (Swe), Morten Djursaa (Den), Bruno “BC” Carvalho (Swe), Kai Puolakka (Fin),  Simeon Thoresen (Nor), Jusi Halonen (Fin), Juho Valamaa (Fin), Bessam Yousef (Swe), Emil Weber Meek (Nor), Mark O. Madsen (Den)

Dropped out: Mats Nilsson due to retirement.

Summary: Nordic welterweight division is getting stronger and deeper all the time with hungry young prospects emerging from every Nordic country.

Icelandic fighting phenom Gunnar Nelson continued his string of impressive performances at UFC Dublin where he submitted tough American Zak Cummings late in the second round. Undefeated Nelson is now 4-0 in the UFC with three submission victories and two Performance of the Night bonus checks. The Icelander will face a big step up in competition at UFC Sweden III where he will face experienced Rick Story who holds a win over current champ Johny Hendricks.

Sweden’s Nico Musoke dropped a hard fought decision to TUF winner Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Fight Night 44 in June. Musoke, who is 2-1 in the UFC, will look to bounce back to win column at UFC Sweden III where he will battle Russian Alexander Yakovlev.

Denmark’s next welterweight star Nicolas Dalby fought Ukranian  Sergei Churilov at Cage Warriors 66 in Copenhagen. Dalby sent Churilov to sleep with a devastating head kick in the fourth round and captured the Cage Warriors welterweight belt. It’s quite safe to say that we’ll see the Dane soon in the UFC, and another impressive win from the Rumble Sports fighter against former champion Gael Grimaud on September 13 could do it.

Norway’s Mohsen Bahari won another tight match as he followed up his victory over Bruno Carvalho with one against former UFC fighter Ben Alloway at CWFC 69, which extended his three fight winning streak.  The Frontline MMA fighter seems to be building confidence with each bout, and could challenge for the Cage Warriors Belt soon.

Andreas “Real Steel” Ståhl finally made his UFC debut at UFC on FOX 12 where the Swede dropped a decision loss after a grueling fight with Gilbert Burns. Ståhl suffered serious fractures to his face early in the fight but never gave up. It will probably take few months until we’ll see Ståhl back in the Octagon.

Lightweight Rankings

Contenders: Antti Virtanen (Fin), Niko Puhakka (Fin), J-P Vainikainen (Fin), Ott Tõnissaar (Est), Diego Gonzalez (Swe)
Dropped out: Ayub Tashkilot due to inactivity.

Summary: Nordic lightweight division is going through a bit of a turmoil right now with the most well known fighters suffering setbacks lately while the young prospects are just beginning their journey to the international level.

UFC vet Anton Kuivanen stays barely at the top spot after a flash knock out loss to high level American Dakota Cochrane at Helsinki Fight Night in June. Before the loss Kuivanen had racked up two impressive knock out victories over Euro circuit veterans Diego Gonzalez and Oriol Gaset.

Denmark’s Damir Hadzovic, who just entered our rankings in April, rises now already to the second spot. The Bosnian Bomber scored another solid win in the Cage Warriors promotion when he won a decision over previously undefeated Scotland’s Martin Delay at Cage Warriors 69 in July. Before that Hadzovic knocked out UFC vet John Maguire at Cage Warriors 66.

Finland’s Teemu Packalen enters rankings with clean 5-0 record. FinnFighters Gym’s grappling ace has finished all of his opponents so far and four of them in the first round.

Fernando Gonzalez

Mikael Nyyssönen

Featherweight Rankings

Contenders: Frantz Slioa (Swe), Rami Aziz (Swe), Greger Forsell (Fin), Matteus Lähdesmäki (Fin), Michel Ersoy (Swe), Jaakko Vayrynen (Fin), Simon Skold (Swe)
Dropped out: Akira Corassani due to retirement.

Summary: Nordic featherweight division is a shark tank at the moment with an army of hungry fighters working their way up the ladders.

Niklas Backström takes the lead of the featherweight pack with an impressive submission win over Finland’s Tom Niinimäki at UFC Berlin in May. The Luleå fighter will face The Ultimate Fighter alumn Mike Wilkinson of England at UFC Sweden III.

Sweden’s Martin Svensson climbs a spot with a decision win over England’s Dave Hill at Cage Warriors 71.

Tom “Stoneface” Niinimäki was submitted by Chas Skelly in the first round at the UFC Fight Night in Tulsa. The Finn is now 1-2 in the UFC with a loss to Backström and a quality win over Rani Yahya in the debut.

Makwan Amirkhani

Finland’s Joni Salovaara looked sharp at Cage Challenger event in Tampere where the Finn scored a headkick knock out over Frenchman Nicolas Joannes.

Bantamweight Rankings

Contenders:  Emil Hartsner (Swe), Martin Akhtar (Swe), Tuomas Grönvall (Fin), Mohammad Badadivand (Swe)
Dropped out: David Haggström due to inactivity.

Summary: Nordic Bantamweight Top Five is a competitive  bunch with the top three being potential UFC fighters in the very near future. There’s also good amount of potential also in the contender section.

Finland’s Toni Tauru hovers around at second place after an impressive performance at Cage Warriors 66. The Finn dominated Sweden’s Martin Akhtar on the ground and finished job with a rear naked choke late in the first round. Tauru has won his last nine bouts with last six ending to a submission. The Finn is set to fight Englishman Cory Tait at Cage Warriors 72 in mid September.

Three time ADCC Euro champ Tipi Hirvikangas is the leader of the pack. The skilled Finn is riding a four fight win streak. Latest win came at Cage 26 where Hirvikangas TKO’ed Polish prospect Tymoteusz Swiatek (12-2) in the first round with strikes from the mount.

Sirwan Kakai returned to action at the Zone 13 where he TKO’ed England’s Carl Fawcett late in the third round.

Finland’s Janne “Jamba” Elonen-Kulmala extended his winning streak to six consecutive victories at LFN 10 where he beat tough Ukranian Vitali Branchuk by decision.

Mika Hämäläinen

Flyweight Rankings

Finnish flyweight prospect Mikael “Hulk” Silander took his 4th straight win at Cage Challenger where he submitted Bulgarian Dimitar Kostov with a standing guillotine choke in the second round.

Sweden’s Bilal Musa enters the flyweight rankings with a decision win over Englishman Craig Derbyshire at Superior 10.

WOMEN Rankings

Strawweight 115lbs. Rankings

Summary : Finland’s Katja “Killer Bunny” Kankaanpää is the number one ranked Strawweight in the Nordics and among the best in the world.  She captured the Invicta title over American Stephanie Eggink in early September in dramatic fashion with a submission to win the coveted title.  The Botnia Punishment fighter just re-signed with Invicta FC and looks to defend her title early in 2015.  The only loss on her record over her nearly 5 year career was over Joanne Calderwood in a close decision back in 2013.

UFC fighter Tina “Jellybean” Lähdemäki suffered her first defeat in her UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 45 in July. The Finn put on a fantastic performance against Glaudia Gadelha but in the end it was a clear cut decision win for the Brazilian. The bout between the two was the first ever strawweight fight in the UFC.  The Finn had surgery at the end of last year on her wrist, but is getting back in shape and rehabbing and we should see her in the Octagon in mid to late 2015.

Iman Darabi is a BJJ Purple Belt that is looking to make a successful transition into MMA.  The natural Atomweight is only finding fights at the Strawweight division, but has faired well so far.  Darabi decisioned Finn Veera Nykanen at IRFA 6 in April, but her IRFA 7 bout was cancelled.  The Kurdish and Swedish pro trains out of Pancrase Gym in Stockholm and is hoping to fight within the next month or two.

Celine Haga is from Norway, but has become a staple on Jewel cards in Japan.  Training out of Jackson’s MMA in New Mexico, the 30 year old has won her last 5 of 6 bouts.

Veera Nykanen is new to the MMA scene, as her only pro fight took place last April against Iman Darabi.  Her planned pro debut at Cage Warriors 64 in February turned into an amateur fight when her opponent didn’t make weight.

Flyweights 125lbs. Rankings

Summary : Lina Eklund tops the Flyweights based on her last outing, which was her most impressive against Sylwia Juskiewicz at IRFA 4.  Although she pulled out of her scheduled bout at Superior Challenge against Suvi Salmimies, we should expect to see the Pancrase fighter soon in her first bout as a mother.  A showdown versus the Finn or even Wennergren would help decide the rankings for the #1 spot in the Nordics.

Suvi Salmimies did get a fight however, as she got to square up against Isabelle Pare at Cage 28.  The bout was a split decision for the MMA Utti fighter, keeping her from toping the 125 lbs. category.  With previous wins over Tanja Hoffmann and Clemence Schreiber in 2015, it was a successful first year for the 29 year old Finn.

Linn Wnnergren didn’t have any bouts in 2014, and the most latest was due to in injury that kept her out of heading to Brazil in November for a bout with XFCi.  La Machine’s only loss it to Tina Lahdemaki.  The 29 year old’s last bout was  beatdown of Angelica Babbi at Superior Challenge 9 back in November of 2013 in Gothenburg.  Look for Wnnergren to be back in action soon.

Vuokko Katainen had a win, loss, and draw in 2014 for a mixed year.  The MMA Kuopio fighter was last in action at XFC International 6, where she lost a majority decision to Antonia Silvaneide da silva.

Bantamweight 135lbs. Rankings

Summary : Undefeated Pannie “Banzai” Kianzad has shown that she is among the best in the world with her undefeated run. Kianzad was victorious in May at Superior Challenge 10 where she took home a decision win over Italian Annalisa Bucci. In August the Rumble Sports fighter beat Holland’s Megan van Houtum at Cage Warriors 71 by TKO in the 3rd round.  In November, she captured Cage Warriors gold by decisioning Eeeva Siiskonen over 5 rounds as she hit the scales at 135lbs.  She tops the weight class, and shouldn’t be too long before we see her in the Octagon.

Lina Akhtar Länsbarg is ranked second in the division, and put on a vicious beatdown in her last outing with a first round TKO win over England’s Laura Howarth at Cage Warriors 71.  Out of Malmo Muay Thai and MMA, the 32 year old striker is dangerous and will head into her next bout on a three fight winning streak.  Her only loss is to the Kianzad, which took place back in 2012.

Eeva Siiskonen is in the third spot after dropping her most recent fight against Pannie Kianzad, a bout that she took on short notice.  The MMA Imatra fighter showed heart and impressive cardio over five rounds with the late notice matchup.  At Carelia Fight 10, the 32 year old beat Inga Kaledaite by KO in the second round.

With only 19 seconds of pro MMA, Anna Elmose takes up the last slot.  With unlimited potential, it will be interesting to see where Panda can take her career.  The striking and power of the Dane is unusual, and anyone on the end of her punches will end up KO’d.  Stay tuned.

Featherweight 145lbs. Rankings

Summary : Denmark’s Maria Hougaard Djursaa is the top ranked featherweight Nordic fighter.  Coming off a three fight winning streak over 2011 – 2013, she has now lost a decision in a close bout to Italian Annalisa Bucci at EMMA 9 and most recently was stopped by Amanda Bell in her Invicta debut in November.  Look to the Dane to return to action for another Invicta bout.

Elina Nilsson out of Gladius MMA is also a former Invicta veteran.  While not active in pro MMA since 2013, Nilsson keeps busy with fight sports and continues to be Sweden’s best in Muay Thai and could be an option when The Zone FC returns to action in her hometown of Gothenburg.

For the previous update from Aprol 2014, or more information regarding MMA Viking’s ranking criteria and full listing of previous rankings.