Teemu Packalen (8-1) will return to the Octagon at the UK’s The O2 on Saturday, March 18. The rumoured bout with opponent Marc Diakiese (11-0) became official with yesterday’s announcements that tickets will go on sale on January 27.

IMG_3481

Packalen did what two previous Finns couldn’t do in in his last fight, and that was stop Thibault Gouti (11-1). The FinnFighters gym fighter only took 24 seconds to submit the Frenchman, that came into the fight with a win over Anton Kuivanen at Cage 33 and Mikael Nyyssonen at Cage 29.

It was the second UFC fight for Packalen, and the first with a full training camp since his short notice UFC debut versus Mickael Lebout back in 2015. The lightweight fights out of Turku, Finland.

Diakiese is out of Manchester and is a rising figure on the European scene. He has already racked up two UFC wins, include his latest just a few weeks ago versus Frankie Perez.

Also announced was that the card will mark the last fight for a pioneer of the sport and native Londoner, Brad “One Punch” Pickett.