WFL has announced the first four Dutch events of the 2018 calendar separated over two weekends.
The organization, founded by Melvin Manhoef, announced a one-night four-man wildcard tournament as the main attraction for WFL: Final 8 Wildcard Tournament on Saturday, March 24.
Fred Sikking, Roel Mannaart, Ibrahim El Bouni and Bogdan Stoica will compete for a place in the quarterfinals of the heavyweight tournament that WFL kicked off in October on WFL: The Final 16.
WFL: Final 8 & Final 16 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 13.
Sikking lost to Boy Boy Martin in the first round of the sixteen-man tournament last October in controversial fashion.
The 37-year-old Dutchman was announced as the winner by split-decision that night and told MMA Plus later that he thought he was the rightful winner, but the FOG announced two days after the event that the result was overturned due to a judge’s mistake on the score sheets.
El Bouni and Mannaart last competed on November 23 in Japan in the K-1 World Grand Prix. After winning by first-round knockouts earlier that event, the Dutchmen fought each other in the semi-final.
El Bouni won by beating the son of the legendary Andre Mannaart with a first round-knockout but failed to add the Grand-Prix to his resume with a loss to Antonio Plazibat in the final.
Bogdan Stoica, the final participant, will try to join his brother, Andrei Stoica, in the final eight. “Mister KO” qualified for the quarterfinals by beating Sahak Parparyan by decision.
Murat Aygun, Tarik Khabez, Sam Tevette, Fabio Kwasi and Levi Rigters also qualified for the final eight beside Martin and Stoica.
The wildcard spot was made available after Remy Bonjasky and Manhoef vacated their spot in the tournament. The two kickboxing legends fought each other for the fourth time in the main event on WFL: The Final 16. Manhoef won by decision. Officially, this fight was part of the sixteen man tournament.
MMA
WFL also announced their second and third MMA events. Both events will be held in the same weekends of their upcoming kickboxing events. WFL: MMA 2 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 25 and WFL: MMA 3 is set for Saturday, May 12.
WFL’s first MMA event was held last May, in which Brian Hooi beat Paulo Boer in the main event. In the co-main event, K-1 legend Andy Souwer beat Massaro Glunder by third-round submission. Glunder took his first MMA fight on two hours’ notice after Souwer’s original opponent, Rene Wolfrum, fell out.
All events will be held in TopSportCentrum Almere in Almere, the Netherlands.
WFL England
Before the upcoming events, it’s WFL England’s turn to hold an event on February 24 in Middlesbrough.
WFL England is an affiliated franchise of the main World Fighting League and is co-owned by Manhoef and North East promoter, Garry Bell.
