FFC 30’s Thomas Leitner to Fabio di Marco: ‘You are in for a very hard fight and toughness you haven’t seen before!’

September 18th, 2017

FFC 30’s Thomas Leitner to Fabio di Marco: ‘You are in for a very hard fight and toughness you haven’t seen before!’

Thomas Leitner (38-11-2, FFC 1-0) is a 31 year old kickboxer who is to fight on October 21 at the upcoming Final Fight Championship 30 in his home country of Austria. In his upcoming lightweight bout he will face Italy’s dangerous technician Fabio di Marco.

This German-born athlete is to step into the FFC arena for the second time after successfuly defeating Marian Serban at FFC 26 in 2016. However, despite his now vast experience in the ring, his path was not as one would expect.

‘When I was little, I was totally into soccer and wanted to become a professional soccer player,’ Leitner reveals: ‘Due to injuries in soccer I didn’t pursue career in this direction, instead I attempted an education as sports teacher. At the Sports University I met my first trainer and friend, who introduced me into the sport of Muay Thai. I felt the love for the sport from the first day and it never left me since then.’

‘I remember at my first training the warm up was already so exhausting, I couldn’t believe it. But that hard and tough element of Muay Thai training attracted me very much and kept me going.’

At FFC 30 Linz, Leitner is to face Italy’s Fabio Di Marco (46-13, FFC 0-2).

‘I know he is a good and tough competitor with good knees, he has about the same amount of fights as I do, I think it will be a highly competitive fight where nobody wants to lose, but I think I will be the better man at this day.’

Thomas Leitner Winner

Having in mind the fact that Thomas Leitner is a German-born Austrian fighter coming from Vienna, there is no doubt that he will have huge fan support in Linz, but Leitner claims it will by no means be additional pressure.

‘Not at all, I am used to this kind of pressure, it’s not new for me. Actually, quite the opposite, this will be extra motivation for me to fight in front of my people.’

In recent years fighting sports have been growing rapidly in popularity all around the globe and Austria is no exception.

‘The fighting sports scene is not too big in Austria, as Austria is a small country, but the scene is constantly growing in the last years. We have several talents on high international level and recently there is a movement where the gyms begin to work together in order to achieve even better results on the international stage.’

Thomas Leitner

With growing number of fighters and young prospects, it is definitely not easy to get to the top and in the light of that, Thomas Leitner told us more about his future plans in the FFC.

‘Of course, my goal is winning at the FFC, then my next big goal is the World Championship in Budapest, and afterwards I want to win the next couple of fights in order to get shot at the title for the FFC. I am always striving for gold! And FFC is very important, of course, as it is is one of Europe’s biggest and most professional promotions. Every fighter in Austria wants to be a part of it. Last year I fought at the FFC. Actually, it was my comeback fight after becoming a father of a daughter. I was very motivated and won the fight via KO. It was a great experience, as the organization and production was very professional, especially for us fighters. We were taken good care of and could fully concentrate on the fighting.’

FFC 30 is to take place October 21 at TipsArena Linz. For more details on tickets click here. The entire card will be streamed LIVE on www.fightchanneltv.com.