Popular Finnish fighter Juho Valamaa (12-3) will face off against arguably one of the best welterweights in Europe in Frenchman Karl Amoussou (22-7-2) on October 1st in Espoo, Finland.
Valamaa who is a popular figure within the Scandinavia MMA scene thanks to his performances in the cage. He is currently on a six-fight-win-streak which include wins over experienced European fighters like Davy Gallon, Jason Ponet and Omar Jesus Santana. A very well-rounded fighter, Valamaa has a dangerous grappling game with 66% of his wins coming via submission. But now Valamaa, who has already beaten five French fighters in his career, faces a man who has never been submitted in Karl Amoussou and he recognises this as his biggest fight to date.
“This is the most important fight for me yet”, said Valamaa. “He’s a tough opponent for sure and has fought almost everywhere. It’ll be a hard fight and that is exactly what I have been looking for. Fans cans expect a good fast-paced fight.”
30-year-old Amoussou has competed all over the world in promotions such as M-1, Dream, Strikeforce and Bellator, where he won their welterweight tournament in 2012 beating Chris Lozano, David Rickels and Bryan Baker respectively. He then challenged for their welterweight title but lost to Ben Askren due to a doctor stoppage after the third round. Since leaving Bellator in 2014 Amoussou has won five straight, all stoppages and four of which coming in the first round, and now he is looking for number six on October 1st.
“I am very focused on this fight. Like all of my other fights before, this one if very important for me. I have won five fights in a row and plan on making it six on October 1st”, said Amoussou. “It is a big honor to be a part of the very first European Fighting Challenge. Valamaa is a good opponent, he is very solid and tough. I know he’s coming for a war and I’m the right opponent for that. I will give him a war! I don’t care what he did to all the French opponents he fought and beat – I am better than every single one of them and he will find this out very soon. This fight is not going the distance; I will knock Valamaa out in front of his people!”
EuroFC 1 Main Card
Catchweight – Tom Niniimaki (21-8-1) vs. Johnny Bedford (20-12-1)
Heavyweight – Yosef Ali Mohammad (6-2) vs. Fernando Rodrigues Jr. (9-2)
Welterweight – Juho Valamaa (12-3) vs. Karl Amoussou (22-7-2)
Featherweight – Alan Omer (18-5) vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (20-12-2)
Middleweight – Steven Cnudde (7-0) vs. Rob Wilkinson (9-0)
Bantamweight- Toni Tauru (10-3) vs. Marc Gomez (17-7)
Women’s Flyweight – Izabela Badurek (6-3) vs. Roxane Teixeira (5-3)
Welterweight – Andreas Stahl (10-2) v. Georgi Valentinov (14-3)
Light Heavyweight – Stuart Austin (10-2) vs. Nills van Noord (15-6-2)
Lightweight – Aleki Mantykivi (9-4) vs. Soren Bak (7-0)
