2016 World Championships: Team Finland in Focus

Picture: Bantamweight Gold medal winner Abdul Hussein lands a high kick at the 2015 IMMAF European Open Championships Federation: Finnish Mixed Martial Arts Federation Number of competitors: 12 With 13 medals over two years of competing at IMMAF World Championship and European Open events, Team Finland rightfully finds itself as one of the favourites to top the medal’s list at the 2016 IMMAF World Championships of Amateur MMA. European number-one Bantamweight competitor, Abdul Hussein, returns to IMMAF competition to build on his European Open Gold medal. The 18-year-old Hussein fought four times at the European Open in Walsall, England and asserted his dominance as one of the top 135lb prospects with wins over Daniel Moeller, Steliyan Ivaylov and Renato Vidovic. In the finals he faced respected Italian, Marco Zannetti, who boasted previous World Championship experience. Despite this, Hussein battled the odds and scored a split decision win over the gritty Italian for the biggest achievement of his amateur MMA career. When it comes to international competition, Finland has always been a strong nation and has set a precedent that their successful athletes move onto commence strong professional careers. 2015 115lb female World medallist, Minna Grusander, went undefeated in her amateur career and has since turned 1-0 as a professional. Likewise, 2015 World Silver medallist Tuuka Repo has achieved an unbeaten start to his pro career. As previous occasions have shown, the Finnish national team has a strong grappling base which has lent to the ascension of its athletes in the medals rankings. Including three Gold medallists from the 2015 Worlds and three from the European Open. Finland will attempt to make #HistoryAgain and reign Gold in Las Vegas. Attend the 2016 IMMAF World Championships at UFC International Fight Week™ in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA): July 5 – 7, Las Vegas Convention Center FREE ENTRY July 8 & 10, UFC Fan Expo® BUY TICKETS: ufc.com/event-ticket-info FOLLOW the results live at mynextmatch.com or on Twitter at @IMMAFed]]>