The MMA scene in Europe is growing, and the Scandinavian countries of Sweden and Finland have long led the way. This weekend, two events have popped up with lines at the sport books that may be worth a look. With the UFC finding a market for shows all over Europe, many of these smaller, regional shows will get a raised profile as their stars eventually gravitate to the big show. Getting to know these shows may help be ready for when the UFC is bringing in fresh talent. Keep in mind, the UFC recently crowned their first European Champion in women’s strawweight titlist Joanna Jedrzejczyk who is from Poland, and both of these events have lines being offered on women’s fights. This marks the first time in a while that lines for new, regional shows pop up at the books,
The event scheduled for Saturday in Helsinki, Finland is called Cage 30, and the card features seven fights in all, five of which have gotten lines at the books. To put that in perspective, the Bellator 137 show scheduled for a day before and set to air on SPIKETV in the United States, has only warranted four fights with lines, so the Finns are getting a lot of attention. Below are the lines that have been put up.
Lightweight 3 rounds –
Sean Carter +150
Anton Kuivanen -190
Aleksi Nurminen -110
Soren Bak -130
Alex Rodrigues +285
Mikael Nyyssonen -405
Flyweight 3 rounds –
Suvi Salmimies -350
Liliya Kazak +250
Welterweight 3 rounds –
Ismael Naurdiev +250
Mikko Ahmala -350
The Superior Challenge 12 is set to go down in Malmo, Sweden and four of the fights on this twelve fight event are available at the books. In a nioteable match of veterans, the co-main event features UFC veterans Cody McKenzie and David Bielkheden facing off at 170 lbs. Another fighter to watch is Swede’s Max Nunes, who is (15-2) overall and he may perhaps be getting close to a call-up from the UFC. he faces off against Denmark’s Joachim Christensen, who is (10-3) overall. Below are the lines being offered on four of the “main card” fights that are scheduled.
Light Heavyweight 3 rounds
Joachim Christensen +160
Max Nunes -210
Welterweight 3 rounds –
Cody McKenzie +170
David Bielkheden -230
Bantamweight 3 rounds –
Antoine Gallinaro +165
Martin Akhtar -215
Lina Akhtar Lansberg -350
Alexandra Buch +250
