FFC will launch its 2015 season in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the FFC 7 spectacle will be held in Skenderija Hall March 13. This will be FFC's third attempt to hold an event in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and considering the fact that FFC 7 Sarajevo was previously cancelled, the upcoming event will carry exactly the same number.
As expected, the event will include some of the best Bosnian fighters and it will be comprised of seven kickboxing and seven MMA matches.
Poturak to headline FFC 7
The kickboxing part of the event will be headlined by Bosnia's best kickboxer of all times and K-1 WPG Zagreb semifinalist, Dzevad "BH Machine" Poturak who is to fight dangerous Frank Munoz from Spain. After Poturak announced retirement due to health problems in 2013, the popular Bosniac returned to professional kickboxing last year. He spectacularly KO'ed Abderhamane Coulibaly in Zenica, BiH, and then scored one more victory at FFC 16 Vienna against Theodosiadis Panagiotis from Greece. Munoz also already fought at FFC in 2012 in Zagreb where he was defeated by Mladen Brestovac. Since then he suffered one more loss, but then scored many victories and defeated Superkombat fighters such as Falin and Tufekcic. Munoz currently has a five win streak which is a big warning to Poturak who is to face a difficult challenge in his hometown of Sarajevo.
Moreover, Poturak's teammate Elmir Mehic is to fight in the co-main event while his opponent is yet to be announced.
Return of the „Bosnian diamond“
Fighting sports fans in Sarajevo will also be delighted by the return of one of Bosnia's biggest KB talents, Igor Emkic. The fighter who shortly fought under the FFC banner attracted numerous fans while the media gave him nickname “Bosnian diamond”. At FFC 7 he is to face the FFC Futures middleweight category winner Nikita Chub from the Ukraine. Those who followed the FFC Futures series know that Chub is an extremely good and promising fighter while both he and Emkic belong to the top of the middleweight division which makes them serious candidates for the FFC title together with El Bouni and Jason Wilnis.
Chub is not the only FFC Futures winner that is to fight in Sarajevo. Croatia's Antonio Plazibat and Tomislav Cikotic will also step into the FFC ring again in light heavyweight and heavyweight division matches respectively.
Spahovic vs. Salchow
The MMA part of the event will be headlined by Tomislav Spahovic and Germany's Nicolai Salchow. Spahovic made his FFC debut at FFC 3 in Split in 2013 when he KO'ed Christan Golcic from Sweden which was one of the best KO's in FFC in general. However, Spahovic will have a difficult task since in his FFC debut Salchow defeated one of the best Croatian MMA fighters Matej Batinic. Prior to that match Batinic had a score of 10 wins and this was the first loss in his career.
Hungary's Laszlo Senyei will also return to the ring after a longer break. This excellent young fighter scored some impressive victories against Truscek, Gluhak and Jelcic, but he spent the majority of the last year recovering from a serious injury. Now the Hungarian fighter is finally ready for new challenges and he will return with a match against Germany's Dawid Defort.
Pesic gets a new shot
Dragan "Little wonder" Pesic will try to improve his FFC score after defeat to Manuel Bilic at FFC 16 Vienna. The bloodiest match in the FFC history ended with Bilic's victory, but Pesic also proved he is an excellent fighter. This time Pesic is to fight Austria's Darko Banovic who is originally from Sarajevo and who fought in the FFC ring only twice before. Banovic is one of the Austria's biggest MMA hopes and a potential title shot candidate.
Of course, one of Bosnia's best heavyweights Ivo Skopljak is also to fight at FFC 17 Sarajevo against FFC Futures champion Jani Istvan. Skopljak started well in his first FFC match against Ruben Wolf, but soon ran out of fuel and lost the bout. Now he will get a new chance in Sarajevo to prove his quality against a very dangerous opponent.
However, the Hungarian fighter is also not the only FFC Futures winner that is to fight in the MMA part of the event since the event will be opened by Vladimir Prodanovic who is to fight Ivan Skoko.
FFC President Orsat Zovko promised that the FFC will surely be held in Sarajevo some day after it was cancelled twice. Now the promise is to be kept and the FFC 7 is finally to be held in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
FFC 7: Poturak vs. Munoz
March 13, Skenderija, Sarajevo (Bosnia and Hercegovina)
KB:
Dzevad Poturak (BiH) vs. Frank Munoz (SPA), HW
Elmir Mehic (BiH) vs. TBA, HW
Igor Emkic (BiH) vs. Nikita Chub (UKR), -85kg
Boban Krusic (MNE) vs. TBA, -85kg
Antonio Plazibat (CRO) vs. Milos Ivas (AUT), -95kg
Tomislav Cikotic (CRO) vs. TBA, HW
TBA vs. TBA
MMA:
Tomislav Spahovic (BiH) vs. Nicolai Salchow (GER), -93kg
Laszlo Senyei (HUN) vs. Dawid Defort (GER), -77kg
Dragan Pesic (ENG) vs. Darko Banovic (AUT), -66kg
Ivo Skopljak (BiH) vs. Jani Istvan (HUN), HW
Ivan Skoko (BiH) vs. Vladimir Prodanovic (SER), -77kg
Aleksandar Rakic (AUT) vs. TBA, -93kg
TBA vs. TBA