Final Fight Championship is to kick off its season in Athens, Greece, for the second year now, and one of the fighters who is to fight in the Greek capital again is Croatia’s heavyweight Tomislav Čikotić. This time his opponent will be hometown hero, undefeated Stavros Grigorakakis.
Čikotić had his last match in the FFC ring last year in December in Linz, Austria, where he defeated excellent K-1 WKU champion Enver Šljivar. After that he fought at WAKO in Maribor, Slovenia, where he won bronze medal and where he also sustained an injury that took some time to heal.
“I sustained this injury at European championship and I had to take some rest. Injuries are part of this sport and you have to deal with it. I had ligament rupture on my knee, but now I’m ready to fight again.”
Preps and potential title bout
Despite the injury, Tomislav could not restrain himself from doing what he loves.
“I never stopped training. I can’t live without training. As usual, I did my preps in Kickboxing Club Dalmacija and Ameno Gym. We are well-coordinated team; my dad (Josip Čikotić), Milivoj Bajić, Veljko Vetma and my fellow fighter Antonio Plazibat.”
When asked about his new opponent Grigorakakis who has a perfect score of 24 wins and no losses, Čikotić briefly said: “I’m gonna go there score my new win.”
In case he wins, Čikotić would probably get a title shot and secure a match with FFC champ Mladen Brestovac. But would he be able to fight a man that he sparred and trained with so often?
“I respect Mladen both as a man as a fighter, but the only thing on my mind now is this event in Greece,” said Tomislav.
On his return to Greece
As previously mentioned, Tomislav Čikotić already fought in Athens last year but it did not go as he planned and he lost to Romania’s Sebastian Cozmanca via split decision.
“Some things did not work out back then, but I moved on and I took it as a lesson. I have so much to show and I’m better day after day.”
On potential MMA career
When it comes to the main event of the MMA part of the evening, kickboxing star Robin Van Roosmalen is to step into the FFC ring again after his win over Athinodoros Michailidis last year. This will be his second MMA bout. Čikotić also commented on this match and revealed whether he ever imagined himself in MMA gloves.
“Robin is a great fighter and it’s so cool when you can do both kickboxing and MMA at the same time. However, right now I’m focused on kickboxing but we will see. You never know.”