Gerges beats Zhuravlev in an awesome fight, Jurkovic on his way to the FFC top!

June 18th, 2013

Gerges beats Zhuravlev in an awesome fight, Jurkovic on his way to the FFC top!

The Final Fight Championship gave another amazing event in the Zatika Porec venue last Friday, definitely the strongest in terms of fighters' names this year. The fights provided thrill and entertainment for the 3,500-strong crowd that enjoyed the spectacle which lasted a little bit over three hours, topped off by the main events won by Hesdy Gerges and Igor Jurkovic.

FFC 6 had a great opening with a fight between Teo Mikelic and Samo Petje, and the crowd was already getting their money's worth. In the end, Mikelic was a bit more accurate and active, winning by decision.
At the official weigh-ins a day before, the biggest tension could be felt in the stare-down between Matija Blazicevic and Phillip Šaric, and interesting things happened in the ring as well, ending in a stoppage win for Matija in the middle of the second roound.

Austrian MMA fighter Stefan Traunmuller has continued to build his respectable score with a win over Ivan Vitasovic from Pula, who was maybe even the better fighter at one point, but a moment of carelessness and Stefan triumphed after three and a half minutes of the first round.

The last prelim was a duel between Mladen Kujundzic and Nikola Dimkovski. The heavyweights didn't provide too much entertainment for the crowd this time. In a relatively unattractive fight, Kujundzic was by far the more active fighter, but he couldn't finish things off with a knockout and ultimately had to settle for a decision win over an opponent who was obviously affected by a long break.

The main card was opened by Ibrahim El Bouni and Igor Emkic, which turned out to be the shortest fight of the evening. The fighters had barely broken any sweat in the ring when the fight was over thanks to one accurate punch from Ibrahim landing on Igor's chin and sending the latter instantly to the floor. This was the first professional loss for the talented fighter from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Yet the author of the most sever knockout of the evening was Dorijan Ilic, who justified his status as one of the greatest MMA hopes in the region by defeating Emil Poljak after a little more than two minutes, when he literally froze him up, forcing the medical crew to step into the ring.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the evening was the last MMA fight of the event in Porec. Ivica Truscek, after beating Vaso Bakocevic at FFC 4 in Zadar, failed to continue with winning ways. Many pundits thought that he didn't seem in the mood to fight on the evening, and ultimately Hungarian Laszlo Senyei got away with a decision win.

At last, it was time for the clash which raised the most interest among the world's martial arts public. The spotlight was on K-1 World Grand Prix Final participants Hesdy Gerges and Pavel Zhuravlev, who  definitely can't be denied their K-1 elite status by anyone. Gerges was more active by a large margin with his leg strikes, especially low kicks, while Zhuravlev focused more on his boxing technique. Although Pavel was pretty accurate, the judges favored foot techniques and gave the win to the Egyptian.

The home crowd was looking forward the most to another appearance by its local hero Igor Jurkovic, who dominated throughout the fight against Dzevad Poturak. The Bosnian kickboxer appeared not to be fully ready to do three rounds and his activity declined as the fight progressed, while Igor lacked the power needed for a knockout, but did enough to win by unanimous decision.

FFC 6 results
KB: Teo Mikelic def. Samo Petje – decision
MMA: Matija Blazicevic def. Phillip Šaric – R2 2:31 stoppage
MMA: Stefan Traunmuller def. Ivan Vitasovic – R1 3:32 stoppage
KB: Mladen Kujundzic def. Nikola Dimkovski – decision
KB: Ibrahim El Bouni def. Igor Emkic – R1 0:29 KO
KB: Miran Fabjan def. Ivan Bilic – decision
MMA: Dorijan Ilic def. Emil Poljak – R1 2:10 KO
MMA: Laszlo Senyei def. Ivica Truscek – decision
KB: Hesdy Gerges def. Pavel Zhuravlev – decision
KB: Igor Jurkovic def. Dzevad Poturak – decision