Mixed martial arts promoter based in Las Vegas
Final Fight Championship (FFC) is an international combat sports promotion company founded in 2003 by the FFC owner and CEO Orsat Zovko. The company has its headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, as well as a European office in Zagreb, Croatia.
FFC started as a kickboxing promotion, in 2013 FFC introduced MMA fights in its events as well as boxing matches in 2016.
History.
The Final Fight: Stars War.
The Final Fight: Stars War, also known as K-1 Final Fight Stars War in Zagreb, was a kickboxing event produced by Final Fight Championship that was held on 31 October 2003 at Dom Sportova in Zagreb, Croatia. It was the inaugural event held under the FFC banner.
The event was headlined by a heavyweight bout between Mike Bernardo and Sergey Gur. Additionally, the card also featured Stefan Leko, Alexey Ignashov, and Vitali Akhramenko.
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Cro Cop Final Fight.
Cro Cop Final Fight was a kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held on 10 March 2012 at Arena Zagreb in Zagreb, Croatia.
Final Fight had a nine-year break before organizing its second event titled Cro Cop Final Fight.
The event was headlined by a heavyweight bout between Mirko Cro Cop and eight-time K-1 WGP finalist Ray Sefo. The bout also marked Mirko Cro Cop's return to kickboxing after nine years spent in mixed martial arts. Moreover, it was also first Cro Cop's major fight in front of his hometown audience.
In addition to Mirko 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. Up and coming local fighters also got a chance to make a name for themselves, such as Mladen Brestovac, Toni Milanović and Agron Preteni.
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FFC era.
In March 2013, Fight Channel announced a series of events under the Final Fight brand, with the addition of the word "Championship" (C) in the promotion's name, revealing its intention to organize title bouts in the future. Also revealed was its new updated logo. FFC President Orsat Zovko announced that the promotion would hold at least 10 events in 2013, which would feature kickboxing and MMA bouts 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 featured only kickboxing matches. The events were to be broadcast live on Fight Channel in Croatia, but also on many other international cable platforms. Zovko relied on the success of K-1 WGP Final event in Zagreb, Croatia, also produced and co-organized by Fight Channel in 2003 and ultimately won by Mirko Cro Cop. It was first K-1 WGP Final ever held outside Japan.
FFC 3: Jurković vs. Cătinaș.
FFC 3: Jurković vs. Cătinaș was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held on 19 April 2013 at Gripe in Split, Croatia
The event was headlined by a heavyweight kickboxing bout between Igor Jurković and Raul Cătinaș.
Local fighter Agron Preteni who defeated favourite Romanian Andrei Stoica at the K-1 WGP Final several weeks earlier was also to fight at the event but he was forced to withdraw citing an injury. The promotion was unable to find a last-minute replacement for Preteni, which is why FFC 3 featured nine instead of the scheduled 10 fights.
In the first preliminary MMA bout of the evening, Ivan Gluhak defeated Dejan Milošević via stoppage at the end of the second round. Gluhak vs. Milošević was the first MMA bout in Final Fight Championship's history.
In the main event, Igor Jurković defeated Romanian Cătinaș via decision, while in the co-main event K-1 WGP Final semifinalist Pavel Zhuravlev KO'ed Italy's Luca Panto.
FFC 3 was broadcast live in more than fifty countries, including national TV stations in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatian national TV network Nova TV later reported that FFC 3 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 FFC's expansion and events in other countries of the Southeastern Europe.
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FFC 4: Perak vs. Joni.
FFC 4: Perak vs. Joni was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held on 10 May 2013 at Višnjik in Zadar, Croatia.
The event was headlined by a heavyweight MMA bout between Maro Perak and Tibor Joni.
Only three weeks after its first event under the new name, Final Fight Championship held its first event in Zadar, Croatia. The event took place in Višnjik arena with the capacity of 9,500 seats. According to the media estimates, FFC 4 was attended by a 4,500-strong crowd, a significantly better result compared to the previous FFC 3 in Split. FFC 4 was the first event in the promotion's history with an MMA bout in the main event.
After numerous cancellations and injuries, Maro Perak. Perak called out Denis Stojnić, a former UFC fighter, but Stojnić refused the offer. Stojnić told the media that his goal was to make it back to the UFC and for that he needed a win over a big name like Mirko Cro Cop, Mustapha Al Turk, Andrei Arlovski or Jeff Monsont.
In the co-main event, Croatian kickboxing heavyweight Mladen Brestovac defeated Sergei Lascenko via decision after three rounds. Both fighters had previously participated in the K-1 WGP Final in Zagreb where Brestovac defeated Spain's Frank Munoz, while Lascenko lost to Dževad Poturak.
Poland's Maciej Browarski, who stepped in on short notice, pulled off a huge upset when he defeated one of the best European MMA lightheavyweight fighters, Jason Jones, in the first round.
"Results"
FFC 5: Rodriguez vs. Simonjič.
FFC 5: Rodriguez vs. Simonjič was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held on 24 May 2013 at Gradski vrt in Osijek, Croatia.
The event was headlined by a heavyweight MMA bout between former UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez and Slovenia's Tomaž Simonjič.
In the co-main event, Ukraine's kickboxer Pavel Zhuravlev KO'ed the Netherlands's Vinchenzo Renfurm, making his second consecutive win in the FFC. Croatia's MMA Ante Delija and Ante Račić also achieved wins, while Bosnian Igor Emkić defeated Ivan Stanić fighting out of Croatia.
Only two bouts went the distance.
At the post-fight presser, Ricco Rodriguez called out former UFC fighter Denis Stojnić. Stojnić later refused that proposition claiming that UFC matchmaker Joe Silva wanted him to fight Mirko Cro Cop, Mustapha Al Turk, Andrei Arlovski or Jeff Monson.
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FFC 6: Jurković vs. Poturak.
FFC 6: Jurković vs. Poturak was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held on 14 June 2013 at Žatika Sport Centre in Poreč, Croatia.
The event was headlined by a kickboxing heavyweight bout between Igor Jurković and Dževad Poturak.
FFC 6 marked the second FFC event headlined by Igor Jurković after FFC 3 in Split, Croatia, on 19 April 2013.
The co-main event featured two top kickboxing heavyweights. The Dutch Hesdy Gerges defeated Pavel Zhuravlev via split decision. The bout marked Zhuravlev's first FFC defeat after two wins.
Hungary's Laszlo Senyei defeated Ivica Trušček via unanimous decision in an MMA welterweight bout.
Ibrahim El Bouni beat Bosnian kickboxer Igor Emkić in 29 seconds via a KO.
At the post-fight presser, FFC President Orsat Zovko announced the upcoming fall events in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Pula (Croatia), Zagreb (Croatia), Skopje (Macedonia) and Ljubljana (Slovenia).
"Results"
FFC 7: Poturak vs. Munoz.
FFC 7: Poturak vs. Munoz was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held on 13 March 2015 at Skenderija in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
FFC 7 was originally scheduled for 4 September 2013 but it was cancelled due to Poturak's injury and other technical issues. However, FFC wanted to produce an event in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the opportunity appeared two years later.
The event was headlined by a kickboxing heavyweight bout between Dževad Poturak and Frank Munoz, while the MMA headliner featured Tomislav Spahović and Kamen Georgiev.
Hungary's MMA prospect Laszlo Senyei finished Dawid Defort via GNP in the third round, while heavyweight kickboxers Tomislav Čikotić and Elmir Mehić were awarded the title of 'Fight of the night'.
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FFC 8: Zelg vs. Rodriguez.
FFC 8: Zelg vs. Rodriguez was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held on 25 October 2013 at Arena Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
The event was headlined by an MMA catchweight bout between Zelg Galešić and Ricco Rodriguez with Rodriguez defeating his opponent via submission in the first round.
The co-main event featured a kickboxing heavyweight bout between Mladen Brestovac and Ali Cenik that went the distance in favor of Mladen Brestovac.
Glory's Jahfarr Wilnis made his FFC debut at FFC 8 in Zagreb, Croatia, where he lost to Tomáš Hron.
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FFC 9: McSweeney vs. Traunmuller.
FFC 9: McSweeney vs. Traunmuller was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held on 15 November 2013 at Tivoli Hall, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
In November 2013, FFC held its first event outside of Croatia. FFC 9 was also the first event in the FFC's history that featured two events in one night with kickboxing and MMA sections held separately.
The MMA part of the event was headlined by a heavyweight bout between James McSweeney and Stefan Traunmuller. At FFC 9 James McSweeney made his FFC debut and defeated Traunmuller by a first round submission via armbar.
The co-main event featured Primož Vrbinc and Joseph Leitner, while the most anticipated bout of the night was the grudge match between Slovenia's Lemmy Krušič and Vaso Bakočević fighting out of Montenegro that went the distance in favor of Krušič.
The kickboxing part of the event was headlined by Mirko Vorkapič and Chris Ngimbi with Vorkapić pulling an upset and defeating favored former It's Showtime champion Ngimbi.
In the co-main event Ibrahim El Bouni made a successful FFC return defeating favored local kickboxer Miran Fabjan.
"Results"
FFC 10: Rodriguez vs. Batzelas.
FFC 10: Rodriguez vs. Batzelas was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held on 13 December 2013 at Boris Trajakovski Sports Center, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.
The event was the first that the FFC has hosted in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.
The MMA part of the event was headlined by a heavyweight bout between former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez and Greek mixed martial artist and former Olympic wrestler Nestoras Baltzelas. Rodriguez defeated his opponent via second-round TKO.
The co-main event featured Dutch/Albanian professional wrestler Gzim Selmani and Slovenia's Tomaž Simonič with Selmani winning the bout in the first round via RNC. Local MMA fighter Risto Dimitrov stepped into the ring versus Greece's Georgios Vardis eventually winning via decision.
The kickboxing part of the event was headlined by a heavyweight bout between Rustemi Kreshnik and Croatia's Dino Belošević while Mladen Brestovac vs. Kirk Krouba served as the co-main event. Tomáš Hron scored another FFC win after defeating Croatia's Igor Mihaljević in a heavyweight clash.
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FFC Futures 1.
FFC Futures 1 was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held on 1 March 2014 at Marino Cvetković Sports Hall in Opatija, Croatia.
In 2014 Final Fight Championship launched its FFC Futures series – a series of kickboxing and MMA tournaments for younger, aspiring fighters. The winners of the tournament signed a deal with the promotion while the event also featured two super fights including Stipe Bekavac vs. Eddie Sanchez and Ivan Stanić vs. Patrick Van Rees.
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FFC 11: Jurković vs. Kaluđerović.
FFC 11: Jurković vs. Kaluđerović was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event produced by the Final Fight Championship that was held 4 April 2014 at Gradski vrt Hall in Osijek, Croatia.
The kickboxing part of the event was headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Igor Jurković and Jovan Kaluđerović.
The MMA part of the event was headlined by a heavyweight bout between Stipe Bekavac and former UFC and Bellator fighter Eddie "The Manic Hispanic" Sanchez.
In the co-main event of the MMA part of the event Saša Milinković submitted Stefan Traunmuller via arm triangle choke, while Bekavac brutally KO'ed Sanchez in the first round of the headliner.
The first bout of the event featured Ivica Tadijanov and Poland's Marcin Prachnio. Croatia's Ivan Gluhak beat Luca Vitali by a TKO.
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FFC 12: Fabjan