Jurkovic and Truhan determined to win the titles, Croata irritated for not being presented as "local fighter"!

November 21st, 2014

Jurkovic and Truhan determined to win the titles, Croata irritated for not being presented as "local fighter"!

FFC 15 Press conference was held this Thursday in the Zatika Sports Hall in Porec, Croatia, with FFC fighters such as Igor Jurkovic, Filip Pejic, Viktor Halmi, Francisco Barrio and Matej Truhan.

This is the second time this organization decided to return to this small Istrian town. Except for the extremely successful first event in Porec, the reason FFC leaders decided to return also lies in the fact that Igor Jurkovic, one of the Croatia's kickboxing stars who is to fight for the FFC light heavyweight kickboxing title comes from this very town. This will be FFC's inaugural light heavyweight title match and his opponent will be Dennis Stolzenbach from the Netherlands.

Marko Petrak, Fight Channel Editor-in-Chief opened the press conference and greeted the media.
“This is the second time the FFC organization comes to Porec since the FFC 6 which was extremely successful. It was one of our best events, the audience recognized it and the atmosphere was really superb. However, the second reason we came back if the fact that we decided to organize a kickboxing light heavyweight title match and Igor Jurkovic proved with his excellent score that he is a title candidate. It was only logical to do this title match in this city in front of his hometown audience.“

As expected, Igor's appearance at the press conference attracted the most attention. This will be his 6th match in the FFC. This Friday he wil try to score a new victory after he defeated Dzevad Poturak at the same venue last year. The venue was packed back then and Igor believes it will be full on this occasion as well.

“I am glad FFC returned to Porec and that we will deliver a real fighting spectacle as well as for those who wil come to see me fight and those who will watch it on TV. I can't wait to step into the ring and fight infront of my hometown audience. The moment you hear people cheer you get this extra energy and I promise you, you won't be disappointed if you come,” said Jurkovic and added a couple of words on the injury he recently sustained and which postponed the whole event a month later.

“It’s classic injury. It can always happen. I injured my fist while sparring, but luckily, the bone did not move. I am completely ready for the new match.”

When it comes to other matches, the ne that attracted a lot of attention was the one in the MMA lightweight title match. Croatia’s famous MMA fighter Matej Truhan is to fight Viktor Halmi from Hungary. They are both undefeated in the FFC ring and it made them perfect title candidates.

Matej was the first one to speak to the media.

“The preps went really well, but I had problems with cutting weight, as always. My opponent is good, but I also have good chances to win the FFC title. All I have to do is to do my best and win.”

Halmi was brief in his statement.

“I am not a big fan of this weight category, but it was a unique opportunity I could not refuse. FFC is a great organization and it’s a great pleasure to fight here. When I fight I always seek KO.”

Another match that attracted a lot of attention, despite the fact that it was not a title match, was the one between Francisco “Croata” barrio and MMA League champion Filip “Nitro” Pejic who is to febut at FFC.
However, when Petrak said he will first give the word to the local fighter, that is, Filip Pejic, the originally Argentine fighter Francisco Barrio got quite offended and stressed out he was also a Croat which the whole press room greeted with an applause and in this way “Croata” got a chance to speak first.

“I am very happy FFC gave me this once in a lifetime opportunity to come to Croatia and fight. This is my third FFC match and my opponent is really good. He has a great score and he almost has no losses at all, just like me. I expect a good fight and I know the best one will win. All I care about is the victory and I am looking forward to the match, but all I want to do right now is to eat and get some sleep”, said Barrio laughingly and added: “I hope tomorrow neither of us gets seriously injured. I don’t hate Pejic and he does not hate me. We’re just messing around on social media. We will see who is a better fighter.”

In the end Pejic also added something about the match.

“I would like to thank the FFC for this opportunity. It is a great honor for me. When it comes to my match, it will be a good fight since I have a good opponent. I will do my best and the best man shall win.”

FFC 15 event matches start at 19:30 in the Sports Hall Zatika, Porec, Croatia. The organizers expect a full venue as it happened in 2013 when Igor Jurkovic defeated Dzevad Poturak. This times the stakes are even higher since Igor is fighting for the FFC champion title!