FFC 23 Vienna: Three title bouts coming up in the Austrian capital!

February 24th, 2016

FFC 23 Vienna: Three title bouts coming up in the Austrian capital!

After a truly spectacular FFC event in Athens, this Croatian fighting sports promotion is hard at work preparing its upcoming spectacle in Vienna, Austria. FFC 23 is to take place March 18 at Multiversum Schwechat with six top MMA and six kickboxing bouts.
Local Austrian audience will surely be pleased by the performance of local fighters and Viennese fighting sports stars. Philipp Schranz will fight in the main event of the MMA part of the show, while Shkodran Veseli and Eyevan Danenberg will headline the kickboxing part of the evening.
Veseli and Danenberg fight for the welterweight title
After a very successful event in Vienna that took place December 2014, which starred Alessio Sakara, only after a little more than a year, the FFC returns to the Austrian metropolis well known for its rich fighting sports tradition. Shkodran Veseli from Albania travels with a Swiss passport, but he spent a big deal of his life in Vienna. He will try to continue his winning streak in the FFC in a title match against Holland’s undefeated Eyevan Danenberg. Veseli scored three wins in the FFC, last time in Vienna against Douli Chen, but this time he is to face dangerous tall Dutchman who defeated Stevan Zivkovic  in 2015 and FFC Futures champ Jasmin Bajrovic at FFC 18 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Sadeghi vs. Mikelic
The Austrian audience will definitely look forward to seeing their local hero Foad Sadeghi in the FFC ring. Sadeghi is a kickboxing veteran who rose to the fame fighting in Vienna. His opponent will be former title contender, Croatia’s Teo Mikelic. And while this will be Sadeghi’s FFC debut, Mikelic is to return to the FFC ring after losing to Tigran Movsisyan in Linz in 2015. In the meanwhile, Mikelic fought in Glory and in this upcoming match he will surely seek to return to the winning streak.
Cikotic back in the action
Another kickboxing match that draws attention is the one in heavyweight division between Enver Sljivar and Tomislav Cikotic. Cikotic just fought at FFC 22 in Athens where he lost via unanimous decision to Romania’s Sebastian Cozmanca. Therefore is it logical that he will try to seek to return to the winning streak. Sljivar already fought in the FFC ring against Croatia’s kickboxing veteran Igor Mihaljevic and won via decision. It will be a match between two dangerous KO artists with a potential highlight knockout!
FFC 23 Vienna will also feature the return of the ‘Armenian Tiger’ from the Check Republic – Tigran Movsisyan. He is to face dangerous Georgian KO artist Beko Djoinashvili. Movsisyan suffered his first FFC loss at FFC 21 in Rijeka when he lost to Slovenia’s Samo Petje in a title match. Despite the fact that he bravely fought the former champ, the judges decided in Petje’s favor. Doinjashvili is a new name in the FFC roster and this will be his chance to earn himself a new invitation to this elite European fighting sports promotion.
Another Austrian fighter who is to fight in Vienna in Manuel Sembera, but the name of his opponent has not yet been revealed.
Schranz in the MMA main event
As already announced, one of the best Austrian’s MMA fighters Philipp Schranz is to fight in the main event of the MMA part of the program. The name of his opponent will be revealed in a couple of days, but Schranz is definitely a good invitation to Multiversum himself.
Senyei vs. Gluhak in inaugural -77 title match
When it comes to other FFC title matches, Hungary’s Laszlo Senyei and Croatia’s Ivan Gluhak will decide on the new welterweight champion in the MMA part of the event. The two already fought at FFC 5 in Osijek, Croatia in 2013 when Gluhak dominated the entire match only for Senyei to make a twist in the end and finish the match in only few seconds via armbar. It was only one of the five wins Senyei scored in the FFC ring and he definitely deserved this title shot. On the other hand, after losing to this Hungarian fighter, Gluhak scored a series of wins and excellent results in 2014 and 2015 so it is not surprising at all that the FFC match makers decided to give him a new chance to reach the top.
After this awesome matchup, FFC lightweight champ Viktor Halmi is to face Matej ‘DoKose’ Truhan in yet another title bout. This will also be a big rematch since the two already fought at FFC 15 in Porec, Croatia, in 2014. In an extremely tight match, the Croatian fighter had advantage until Hami landed a precise punch that stopped the whole match. Halmi thus earned his belt and became the first FFC lightweight champion. Having in mind Truhan’s great results in the following bouts and Halmi’s stumble in the catchweight against Truscek, this rematch seemed like a logical move.
FFC in Vienna will also feature the return of the Bosnian beast, Tomislav Spahovic, who suffered his first FFC loss in a title match to Marcin Prachnio last year. At FFC 23 he will seek yet another victory and try to defeat Russia’s FFC debutant Artur Guseinov.
Another Hungarian fighter at FFC 23 will be featherweight Adam Borics. He is to face Croatian fighter with Austrian passport, Manuel Bilic. They both scored two wins and suffered no losses in the FC so far and he winner of this match will continue to climb this heavily packed division.
Despite the fact that his opponent has not been revealed yet, Austria’s Bosniac Darko Banovic will also fight at FFC 23. He already fought in the FFC ring a couple of times but he made the biggest impression when he defeated Matija Blazicevic in Zadar, Croatia.

FFC 23 – Vienna
18/3/2016, 8 PM
Multiversum Schwechat

MMA:

Philipp Schranz (AUT) vs. TBA, -66kg
Viktor Halmi (HUN) vs. Matej Truhan (CRO), -70kg – title match
Laszlo Senyei (HUN) vs. Ivan Gluhak (CRO), -77kg – title match
Tomislav Spahovic (BiH) vs. Artur Guseinov (RUS), -93kg
Manuel Bilic (AUT) vs. Adam Borics (HUN), -66kg
Darko Banovic (AUT) vs. TBA, -66kg

KB:

Shkodran Veseli (SUI) vs. Eyevan Danenberg (NED), -77kg – title match
Foad Sadeghi (AUT) vs. Teo Mikelic (CRO), -72kg
Tomislav Cikotic (CRO) vs. Enver Sljivar (SUI), HW
Tigran Movsisyan (CZE) vs. Beko Doinjashvili (GE), -70kg
Manuel Sembera (AUT) vs. TBA, -77kg
TBA vs. TBA