This past Saturday, Georgian featherweight Levan Kirtadze stepped into the Fight Club Rush cage in Västerås, Sweden, for the first time.
Facing Swedish MMA star Tobias Harila, who’s based in Västerås, Kirtadze and his team knew that it would be a tough fight to win. After three rounds of entertaining and violent action, the hometown hero finally stood as the winner via a razor-thin majority decision.
The Georgian, and quite a few with him, disagrees with the judges’ scorecards.
“Of course, I am sure that I won the battle. Everyone would be disappointed in my place,” Kirtadze tells Frontkick in an exclusive interview. “Everyone thought he would finish me, but unfortunately, they didn’t know about me. But I knew he wouldn’t be able to do it.”
Even though he feels robbed of the win, he has nothing but respect for what his opponent brought to the table in their three-rounder.
“Tobias is a very strong athlete. He is a Swedish star.”
Tobias Harila and Levan Kirtadze. Photo via FCR / Daniel Schälander
The headline fight marked the Swedish debut for Levan Kirtadze, and it for sure lived up to all expectations. When the dust settled, it was awarded with the 30.000 SEK ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus and will be stuck in the memories of Swedish MMA fans for a long time.
“We had a very spectacular fight and I am happy with the bonus. But I would have been happier if they had made the right decision,” Kirtadze says. “The organization in FCR was at a high level, except for the referees.”