Final Fight Championship

The Final Fight: Stars War

The first Final Fight event called "The Final Fight: Stars War" was held in 2003 (31 October) at the Ledena dvorana Doma sportova venue in Zagreb. It featured seven fights, two of which were for the WKA world title. The crowd enjoyed a full evening of watching the likes of Mike Bernardo, Sergei Gur, Phillip Trapani and Vitali Akhramenko, as well as local fighters who were given a chance to prove themselves on their own turf, namely Ivica Perković, Ante Bilić and Josip Bodrožić. A German fighter with Croatian roots, Stefan Leko, triumphed in front of his own crowd. In the final battle of the evening, great South African K-1 star Mike Bernardo defeated Belarusian Sergei Gur by TKO in the second round.

Results

Cro Cop Final Fight

Final Fight waited almost nine years before organizing its second event titled "Cro Cop Final Fight". The event was held on 10 March 2012 in Arena Zagreb. The main event between global superstar Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović and eight-time K-1 WGP finalist Ray Sefo expectedly attracted the most attention. It was the beginning of Mirko Filipović's return to kickboxing after nine years spent in mixed martial arts. It was also the first big match for Filipović in front of his own crowd in the city where he lived and trained.

In addition to Cro Cop and Sefo, the event, attended by a crowd of approximately 11,000 people, included the likes of former It's Showtime champion Daniel Ghiță, SUPERKOMBAT WGP winner Sergei Lascenko and former It's Showtime champion Sahak Parparyan. It was also a chance for some local fighters to make a name for themselves, such as Mladen Brestovac, Toni Milanović and Agron Preteni.

Results

FFC era

In late March 2013, Fight Channel announced a series of tournaments under the already familiar Final Fight brand, with the addition of the word "Championship" (C) in the promotion's name, revealing its intention to organize title fights in the future. On that occasion, the new, updated logo of the promotion was presented. FFC president Orsat Zovko announced that there would be at least 10 tournaments in 2013, and that they would feature both kickboxing and MMA fights in equal measure. Each event was to have ten fights, four on the preliminary fight card and six on the main card. This was a novelty considering that the first two Final Fight events were composed solely of kickboxing fights. The events were to be broadcast live on Fight Channel, but also in many other European and world countries. Zovko made reference to the success of the K-1 WGP Final, produced and co-organized by Fight Channel on 15 March 2013 and ultimately won by Mirko Filipović. It was the first K-1 WGP Final ever held outside Japan.

FFC03: Jurković vs. Cătinaș

The first event under the updated FFC brand, FFC03: Jurković vs. Cătinaș, was held on 19 April 2013 at the Gripe venue in Split, Croatia, and the main event was the fight between Igor Jurković and Raul Cătinaș. Even though he was announced, hometown fighter Agron Preteni – who defeated favored Romanian Andrei Stoica at the K-1 WGP Final several weeks before – was forced to withdraw due to an injury. The promotion was unable to find a last-minute replacement for Preteni, which is why FFC03 featured nine instead of the scheduled 10 fights.

In the first preliminary fight of the evening, Ivan Gluhak defeated Dejan Milošević by stoppage at the end of the second round, which was also the first MMA fight in the history of the Final Fight Championship. In the main event, Igor Jurković defeated Romanian Cătinaș via decision, while in the co-main event K-1 WGP Final semifinalist Pavel Zhuravlev knocked out Italy's Luca Panto. The media took special notice of a highlight knockout by Bosnian fighter Tomislav Spahović in an MMA light heavyweight bout against Swede Christian Golčić. Due to this outcome, Spahović was celebrated in his home country of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a hero and touted as a major prospect on the martial arts scene.

A live broadcast of the event went to more than fifty countries of the world, including national TV stations in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatian national TV network Nova TV later reported that FFC03 had a 32% share in TV ratings, making the event the most watched show of that week.

After the event, Orsat Zovko announced the upcoming events in Zadar, Osijek and Poreč, as well as the expansion of the FFC promotion to the countries of the region in spite of the poor attendance of the show. According to the media estimates, the attendance was a mere one thousand.

Results

FFC 4: Perak vs. Joni

Only three weeks after the premiere under the modernized brand in Split, the Final Fight Championship held the event FFC04: Perak vs. Joni in the Croatian city of Zadar on 5 May 2013. The event took place in the state-of-the-art Višnjik arena, which for this occasion had the capacity of 9,500 seats. According to the media estimates, FFC04 was attended by a 4,500-strong crowd, a significantly better result compared to the premiere in Split. FFC04 was the first event in the promotion's history that had an MMA fight as the main event. In the main event, Croatian fighter Maro Perak defeated Hungarian fighter by TKO in the first round Tibor Joni.

The organizers were plagued by injury problems and withdrawals, forcing them to multiple changes of opponents for Perak, and – while announced and shown on the official poster – former UFC fighter and the best MMA fighter in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Stojnić, made no appearance. Stojnić told the media that in order to return in the UFC he needed a win over Mirko Filipović, Mustapha Al Turk, Andrei Arlovski or Jeff Monson, and that he did not want to fight any other opponents. It was a response for a public call-out by Marko Perak, who suggested, after several of his opponents cancelled, that he should fight Stojnić at the FFC04 event. Stojnić rejected such proposition, which was officially confirmed by the FFC.

In the co-main event, Croatian kickboxing heavyweight Mladen Brestovac defeated Ukrainian Sergei Lascenko via decision after three rounds. Both fighters had participated in the K-1 WGP Final in Zagreb; Brestovac defeated Spaniard Frank Munoz in one of the super fights, while Lascenko lost to Dževad Poturak in the tournament's reserve bout.

The event had an abundance of attractive knockouts and submissions, while the upset of the evening was created by a late substitute, Poland's Maciej Browarski. Browarski was matched up against one of the best European MMA fighters in the lightheavyweight, Jason Jones, only two days before the event, as Italian fighter Matteo Minonzio withdrew from the fight. Even though he fought against a favored opponent, Browarski needed only one round to get to his biggest career win with an amazing knockout.

Results

FFC 5: Rodriguez vs. Simonjič

The Final Fight Championship held its fifth event on 25 May, 2013 in the Croatian city of Osijek, under the title FFC05: Rodriguez vs. Simonjič. The event took place at the Gradski vrt venue, which had a capacity of 4,000 seats for this occasion and was completely full. The event was headlined by former UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez against Slovenian fighter Tomaž Simonjič. It was the second consecutive FFC event headlined by an MMA fight. The organizers had quite a few problems with withdrawals and injuries, which made the original fight card rather different from the final one.

In the co-main event, Ukrainian Pavel Zhuravlev knocked out Dutchman Vinchenzo Renfurm with a hook in the second round of their kickboxing bout. This was the second knockout in a row for Zhuravlev in the FFC, following the FFC03 event in Split where he defeated Italian Luca Panto in the same manner. Osijek saw victories from promising Croatian MMA fighters Ante Delija and Antun Račić. Another standout moment was the knockout by young Bosnian hope Igor Emkić against much more experienced and favored Ivan Stanić. Only two of the event's ten fights were decided by judges, while eight of them ended in knockouts or submissions.

On the press conference after the event, Rodrigues said he wanted to fight former UFC fighter Denis Stojnić in his next fight in FFC. Stojnić later refused that proposition saying UFC match maker Joe Silva wants him to fight Mirko Cro Cop, Mustapha Al Turk, Andrei Arlovski or Jeff Monson.

Results

FFC 6: Jurković vs. Poturak

The FFC had its last event before the 2013 summer break on 14 June in the Croatian resort of Poreč under the title FFC06: Jurković vs. Poturak. The event was headlined by Croatian fighter Igor Jurković and the best Bosnian fighter of all time, Dževad Poturak. It was the second event headlined by Igor Jurković after FFC03, held in Split on 19 April 2013. The media touted the fight between Jurković and Poturak as the "Balkans Showdown" of the two best kickboxing heavyweights coming from the ex-Yugoslavia countries. Jurković won the match after three rounds via decision. The co-main event featured two of the world's top kickboxing heavyweights. In an outstanding match, Egyptian Hesdy Gerges got to a split decision win after three rounds against Pavel Zhuravlev. It was already the third fight for the Ukrainian in the FFC events and only his first defeat, but also his fifth appearance in Croatia in three months, considering that Zhuravlev was a semifinalist of the K-1 WGP Final in Zagreb.

The upsets of the evening were created by Hungarian Laszlo Senyei and Moroccan Ibrahim El Buni. In an under −77 kg(welterweight) MMA fight, Senyei defeated one of the most experienced European MMA combatants, Ivica "Terror" Trušček, via split decision. This was Senyei's second win in a row at the FFC events after his win over Ivan Gluhak in Osijek. El Bouni took just 29 seconds to knock out Bosnian favorite Igor Emkić. Poreč was also the place where the heavyweight winner of the "Croatian MMA League", Dorijan Ilić, made his debut. Ilić knocked out a veteran of the regional MMA scene, Emil Poljak, already in the first round. At the post-event media conference, FFC president Orsat Zovko announced autumn events in Sarajevo, Pula, Zagreb, Skopje and Ljubljana.

Results

FFC 8: Zelg vs. Rodriguez

FFC07 was canceled because of financial problems while trying to rent Pula Arena, and FFC08 was canceled because of injured Dževad Poturak. Main fight of FFC07 event is moved on 25. October 2013 in Zagreb, Croatia, event will be named FFC08: Zelg vs. Rodriguez because FFC07: Poturak vs. Leko is postponed and will have same name. In the main event ex Pride, Bellator fighter and Cage Rage champion Zelg Galešić will fight ex UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez. Fight was scheduled at -95 kg catch weight.

Results

FFC 9: McSweeney vs. Traunmuller

On 15 November 2013 FFC organized its first international show in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at Tivoli Hall. This was also the first FFC event that was strictly divided in two parts: MMA part and kick boxing part. The whole show and MMA part was headlined by British fighter James McSweeney and Stefan Traunmuller from Austria in the MMA part of the spectacle. James McSweeney is an experienced former UFC fighter who also participated in the UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter show as a member of Rashad Evans team. The event in Ljubljana saw McSweeney’s first FFC match which he finished successfully via armbar in the first round after only 35 seconds. The co-main event featured two exciting fighters in the -77 kg division, hometown favorite Primož Vrbinc and Joseph Leitner. Vrbinc finished Leitner by guillotine choke in the 3rd round after a grueling fight. The highlight of the evening was Ivica Trušček’s high kick that landed on Leonardo Zecchis head putting him cold out while the most anticipated bout of the evening was the one between Montenegro’s native Vaso Bakočević and Slovenian fighter Lemmy Krušić who made quite a show already at the weigh-ins. This fight unfortunately went to distance with Krušić winning two rounds and scoring the victory.

The Kickboxing part of the even was opened with Toplak's decision victory over Selimović. Ivan Stanić scored a TKO victory over Ivanović with his brutal low kicks. Samo Petje proved that he is a force to be reckoned with in the future with his knockout victory over Mario Katić. In an exciting fight filled with exchanges Stevan Živković scored a decision victory. In the co-main event of the kickboxing part Ibrahim El Bouni turned out to be the FFC’s biggest discovery when he knocked Miran Fabjan clean out. In the headlining bout the underdog and hometown fighter Mirko Vorkapić pulled an upset with a decision victory over It’s Showtime’s former champion Chris Ngimbi.

Results

FFC 10: Rodriguez vs. Batzelas

FFC 10 was held on December 13, 2013 in Skopje, Macedonia, at the “Boris Trajkovski” hall. It was FFC’s first visit to Macedonia and it was rather spectacular. Over 6000 spectators witnessed a night filled with knockouts, submissions and brutal strikings. The event and MMA part was headlined by the match between former UFC champion Ricco “Suave” Rodriguez and Nestoras Batzelas. A kickboxing match between Macedonia’s own Slobodan Kajmakoski and Teo Mikelić got the show going. Mikelić’s pace was too much for Kajmakoski and Mikelić won by judges’ decision. Igor Emkić dominated the Greek fighter Mavropoulos and got the decision. It took only over a minute for Shkodran Veseli to knock out Ile Risteski with a high kick.

Igor Mihaljevic lost to Tomas Hron via decision and Mladen Brestovac continued his winning streak winning a match against Kirk Krouba. Rustemi Kreshnik scored a decision victory over Dino Belošević and proved that he is a great potential. The MMA part of the event was opened with a dominating performance of Matija Blažičević who defeated Viktor Stojanov. The crowd went wild when Risto Dimitrov and Georgios Vardis stepped in to the ring. Dimitrov won by unanimous decision. Enev finished Pereša in the last minute of the fight with a guillotine choke. Vaso Bakočević broke his losing streak with a unanimous decision. After a devastating loss in Osijek, Gzim Selmani made a big comeback in Skopje with an arm triangle in the first round. In the main event of the evening Ricco Rodriguez who was cornered by Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic delivered a great performance finishing his opponent with a TKO stoppage in the second round.

Results

FFC Futures 1

Results

FFC 11: Jurković vs. Kaluđerović

Final Fight Championship 11 was held on 4 April 2014 in Osijek, Croatia. Gradski Vrt Hall was sold out and the spectators witnessed a great spectacle. The headlining bout was the one between one of the best Croatian kickboxers, Igor Jurković, and Serbian prospect Jovan Kaluđerović. MMA part of the event was headlined by one of the biggest MMA potentials in Croatia, Stipe Bekavac, and former UFC and Bellator fighter Eddie “The Manic Hispanic” Sanchez. The event started with a bout between hometown favorite Ivica Tadijanov and Marcin Prachnio. Tadijanov dominated the fight with takedowns and ground control. Artuković got a decision win over Drmonjić. The moment that ignited the crowd was Ivan Gluhak’s TKO victory over Luca Vitali. Matej Batinić won via judges’ decision.

In the co-main event of the MMA part of the event Saša Milinković submitted Stefan Traunmuller with an arm triangle. The headlining match ended quickly, in the first round, since Stipe Bekavac got a brutal K.O. victory over Eddie Sanchez. Kickboxing part of the event started with Ivan Zidar’s victory over Samuel Hadzima. Slovenian fighter Alan Štritof grinded out a decision victory against his opponent Saša Stošić. In a heavyweight bout between two young Croatian kickboxers, Ante Verunica won after an additional round. Patrick Van Rees proved that he is a new FFC star with yet another knockout victory over Dženan Poturak. Spectators witnessed a true war in the ring between Stevan Živković and Shkodran Veseli whose match was finished in the third round by a flying knee by Veseli. In the headlining bout Igor Jurković started out strong finishing the fight in the second minute of the first round with a devastating middle kick to Jovan’s liver.

Results

FFC 12: Fabjan vs. Daley

On April 24, 2014. FFC came back to Ljubljana with an FFC 12 event. Because of a successful debut in Ljubljana 6 months prior to this event, FFC decided to bring superstars to Tivoli Hall yet again. The biggest names of the event were former Strikeforce fighter Dion „The Soldier“ Staring and a global fighting superstar Paul „Semtex“ Daley. The event began with an MMA bout between Luka Jelčić and Krasimir Georgiev which Jelčić finished with „ground and pound“ in the first round. Antun Račić showed his excellent ground game and finished Zoltan Turi with an „armbar“. Croatian fighter Ivica Trušček defeated Michael Pfunder with a “rear naked choke”. After only a minute and forty five seconds in the first round, Bor Bratovž submitted his opponent Giorgi Ivanov. The spectators have witnessed an all out war between Primož Vrbinc and Viktor Halmi and the referee stopped the fight in the second round due to strikes and gave the TKO victory to Halmi.

In the main event of the MMA part of the event Dion Staring dominated Tomaž Simonič finishing him with “Americana”. Kickboxing part of the event started with Mladen Kujunđić’s knockout victory over Dženan Poturak. Kujunđić finished Poturak with a devastating middle kick to the liver. In a heavyweight match up Elmir Mehić defeated hometown favorite Rok Štrucl. Samo Petje stopped Kevin Hesseling with a series of blows. The only bout that reached judges’ decision was the one between Denis Chorchyp and Darian Paladin. In a grueling fight Chorchyp convinced the judges that he deserved the victory. Unfortunately, highly anticipated fight between Teo Mikelić and Mirko Vorkapić ended too quickly since Vorkapić sustained a huge eye hematoma. In the main event of the evening Paul Daley and Miran Fabjan engaged in a war and Daley came out as a winner. He knocked out “Slovenian Rocky” in the second round after Fabjan’s great performance in the first round.

Results

FFC Futures 2

Results

FFC 13: Jurković vs. Tavares

FFC 13 will be held in Croatian city Zadar on 6 June 2014 in the Višnjik Hall. This is the second time that Final Fight Championship is coming to this city on the Adriatic coast after 2013. and FFC04. Event will be headlined by two members of Glory roster in 95 kg division: Igor Jurković and Luis Tavares. This will also be a main bout of the kickboxing part of the show. MMA part will headline Saša Milinković and Ruben Wolf.

Results

FFC Futures 3

Results

FFC 14: Račić vs. Krušič

Fight card

FFC 14: Račić vs. Krušič

Fight card

Media Rights Distribution

Final Fight Championship live Shows' media rights are distributed worldwide by Fighting Spirit, the international market leader in fighting sports content distribution.

Rules

The FFC holds fights at its events under the rules of kickboxing and those of mixed martial arts. There is no standardized ratio between kickboxing and MMA fights; it varies from one event to another. The FFC kickboxing rules are the modified rules of the legendary Japanese kickboxing promotion K-1. These include a 10-point must system, three rounds plus one extra round in case of a draw and no clinch allowed. Each round in a kickboxing fight has the duration of three minutes, and intermissions between each round are one minute long.

The FFC's MMA rules are the modified rules of the legendary Japanese MMA promotion Pride. These include a 10-point must system taken from the Unified Rules of MMA, but also allow soccer kicks and stomps, which are excluded from the Unified Rules of MMA. The rules do not allow elbow strikes to the head. Each of the three rounds (there are no extra rounds) last five minutes, and intermissions between each round are one minute long.

The president of the promotion Orsat Zovko stated that the FFC was considering additional innovations in terms of rules to bring the promotion closer to the standards required by public TV networks that broadcast the event live during primetime hours. Specifically, he said that in the future the FFC could exclude techniques that may be considered excessively violent by the mainstream audience, such as soccer kicks and stomps.

Weight classes and champions

The FFC is currently using six weight classes for its MMA fights and five weight classes for its kickboxing fights. Non-title fights have a one-pound leniency.