London, UK –The UFC® have announced that Gunnar Nelson vs. Rick Story will headline the highly anticipated return to Stockholm on October 4, 2014.
Gunnar “Gunni” Nelson (13-1-0 fighting out of Reykjavik, Iceland) will make the step up to main event status for the first time in his UFC career as he meets Rick “The Horror” Story (17-8-0 fighting out of Glendale, Arizona.)
Both Nelson (pictured) and Story will be looking to build on their impressive last outings, in Dublin and Atlantic City respectively. Nelson dismantled Zak Cummings inside two rounds the same week that Story submitted Leonardo Mafra Texeira.
Story is a UFC veteran who owns a victory over current UFC welterweight champ Johny Hendricks so will be unfazed stepping in against Nelson despite the Icelandic having a relative home advantage.
Nelson said: “To headline a card in Sweden is huge for me. They are our neighbours and one of my favourite fighters is of course from Sweden (No. 1 ranked light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson).
“I expect the Swedish crowd to be pretty loud. I believe I have a big fan base in Sweden. They love my kind of style of fighting and I am of course Scandinavian, so we have a good connection. Overall I think it’s going to be a great night – I am really excited about this opportunity.
“Rick Story has fought many of the best fighters. He beat the current champion and he is very experienced and is a very good wrestler. He is a tough opponent and I am happy to be fighting him.
“Now I will head straight into training. I plan to go to Las Vegas to train with Conor and to help him prepare for his fight, and then I will most likely go to Sweden from there.
“I am honoured to fight in Sweden and to headline this card.”
Story said: “Oh man this is a really exciting match up. Stylistically it’s going to be great because Gunnar is a grappler and an attacker. When it comes to fighting, you can’t ask for more than that – someone who attacks and comes at you. As soon as I found out I started to watch his fights, I still have the Dublin fight to watch.
“I have fought in Germany before but it will be my first time in Stockholm so I am looking forward to seeing the city. My schedule now will be to pack up, leave Vancouver, Washington where I am at the moment and head down to Arizona to the MMA Lab to start training. I’m really excited for this fight!”
Tickets for UFC® FIGHT NIGHT STOCKHOLM presented by Unibet go on sale Friday August 22, with prices from SEK 470.00, which can be purchased online at AXS.com.
Four Swedish fighters – Magnus Cedenblad, Niko Musoke, Ilir Latifi and Niklas Backstrom will take to the Octagon™ looking for home support from the local fans.
Fresh from his victory in Dublin earlier this month, Ilir “The Sledgehammer” Latifi (10-3-0 fighting out of Malmo Sweden) will meet Jan Blachowicz (15-3-0 fighting out of Cieszyn, Poland). Blachowicz will be making his UFC debut, having been a former light heavyweight champion in his native Poland. Latifi has finished his last two opponents inside the first round but Blachowicz will be eager to make his mark inside the UFC and silence the Swedish fans.
“After having heard the intense crowd in Dublin breaking the noise record I’m determined to make the Swedish crowd beat that. I’m especially relying on my fans from Malmo in Sweden. Half the Globe arena will be filled with fans from Malmo and my fight will be the loudest,” said Ilir ‘The Sledgehammer’ Latifi.
Garry Cook, UFC Executive Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA said: “Sweden and the whole of Scandinavia is full of passionate MMA and UFC fans so we are thrilled to return to Stockholm with this fantastic card. There has been a lot of buzz across Europe following the success of UFC Fight Night Dublin and I’m sure that demand for tickets will be exceptional and the event will sell out fast.”
Unibet CEO, Henrik Tjärnström, says: “As a global company with Swedish roots, we at Unibet are delighted to welcome the UFC back to Stockholm. We’re proud to be the official betting partner of UFC and delighted to present what promises to be a fantastic night of world-class sports action, right here in our spiritual home of Stockholm!”
VIP packages available from August 8 through Tailor Events ufcvip.co.uk include the opportunity to step inside the Octagon™ and raise the UFC championship belt, coveted floor seats and an official UFC FIGHT NIGHT STOCKHOLM event poster signed by the fighters.
UFC Fight Club® members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Wednesday, August 20 at 10 a.m. CEST via the website www.ufcfightclub.com.
A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Thursday, August 21 starting at 10 am. CEST. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.
UFC FIGHT NIGHT STOCKHOLM presented by Unibet will air live on BT Sport, CMore and UFCFIGHTPASS.com, the UFC’s digital streaming service.
Photo by Jorden Curran
