Emil Zahariev is to return to Athens to take another shot at Final Fight Championship, but this time armed only with desire to win. At FFC 28 this Bulgarian fighter will finally lock horns with heavyweight champ Darko Stošić exactly one year after their first match that never happened.

In February last year at FFC 22 Zahariev (22-7-1) was to fight in a contender bout with Darko Stošić. The winner would then fight former champion Dion Staring, but Zahariev got himself into trouble that stopped him from entering the ring since the Greek police found a knife on him only a couple of hours before the match.

“I did not know that the laws in Greece forbid carrying a knife. I was disappointed I did not fight Stošić.”

In the meanwhile, Zahariev did not do a single match and this FFC debut will also be his first fight since December 2015.

“I haven’t fought because I had more important priorities during recent years. This will not impact the fight,” said Zahariev.

On the other hand, after this match Stošić (10-1) got a chance to fight Staring nevertheless. He won the belt last September via majority decision and he sealed his position again two months ago at FFC 27 in Zagreb when he defeated the Dutch veteran via unanimous decision.

“Stošić is clearly a good fighter since he is the owner of the belt. As far as I’ve seen in his matches with Staring, he has good conditioning too. I think this match will not be easy for me, but I believe I can beat him and become the new champ.”

However, this 28 year old Bulgarian fighter weighs 117 kg and has more experience than Stošić. He has 30 matches under his belt with 7 KO wins and 11 submissions. And despite the fact that his strongest point is grappling, he will adjust the game plan for his FFC debut.

“I would like to win. It does not matter how. I am the type of fighter who thinks and develops strategy depending on his opponent. So I will adjust my tactics. The key factor is that this time I’m not bringing the knife with me (laughs).”