UFC
Complete list: Here are Sweden’s 29 UFC fighters throughout history
Let’s take a closer look at every Swedish fighter that competed inside the octagon!
Papy Abedi
- Career status: Unknown
- UFC record: 1-3
In 2011, Papy Abedi signed a four-fight deal with UFC, and made his promotional debut against former welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves in November. However, Abedi lost the fight via a first-round submission.
His sole UFC win came in 2013, against fellow Swede Besam Yousef at Globen in Stockholm.
Rostem Akman
- Career status: Active (last fight in Levels Fight League, 2023)
- UFC record: 0-2
Rostem Akman, also known as “Kurdimus Prime”, fougt twice in the UFC back in 2019. His debut came in Stockholm as he took a short-notice fight against Sergey Khandozhko. Akman fought hard but lost the tough fight via a close decision.
In his second UFC bout, he faced Jake Matthews in Australia and lost a quite dull fight by way of unanimous decision.
Amir Albazi
- Career status: Active (UFC, last fight in 2022)
- UFC record: 3-0
No. 7 ranked Amir Albazi, who grew up in Stockholm but later relocated to England, is one of the hottest prospects in the stacked flyweight division.
He made his debut in 2021 and is still undefeated with three straight wins in the promotion.
Albazi is considered a future title challenger by many MMA experts, and is for sure one of the most interesting Swedish fighters around.
David Bielkheden
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 1-2
David Bielkheden was the second Swede to ever compete in the Octagon. In his debut on March 1 2008, he squared off against The Ultimate Fighter 1 winner Diego Sanchez, today considered a true icon in the sport.
The Stockholm fighter’s sole UFC win came via unanimous decision against Jess Liaudin in October 2008.
Bielkheden later became Swedish promotion Superior Challenge’s welterweight champion before retiring in 2021.
Niklas Bäckström
- Career status: Active (last fight in KSW, 2022)
- UFC record: 1-2
Niklas ”King in the North” Bäckström started his UFC career with flying colors as he defeated Tom Niinimaki via a bonus-winning first-round submission in 2014.
He then faced two defeats before getting released by the promotion in August 2015.
Magnus Cedenblad
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 4-2
Magnus “Jycken” Cedenblad is one of the most interesting fighters on this list.
After losing his promotional debut in 2014, “Jycken” put together an impressive four-fight winning streak, three wins coming by way of stoppage, before losing to Jack Marshman in 2016. His most notable victory was a “Performance of the Night” winning submission against the tough Krzysztof Jotko.
Sadly, Cedenblad’s career ended in 2018 due to numerous and continuous injuries. However, lucky for Swedish fight fans, “Cedenblad” is working as a UFC expert on Viaplay’s broadcasts.
Khamzat Chimaev
- Career status: Active (UFC, last fight in 2022)
- UFC record: 6-0
Undefeated UFC superstar Khamat Chimaev is by far one of the biggest names in modern MMA.
With a record breaking start of his promotional career, winning three fights in 66 days, “Borz” became the fighter the whole world was talking about.
After defeating Gilbert Burns and Kevin Holland in 2022, Chimaev could very well be fighting for a welterweight or middleweight title in 2023.
Akira Corassani
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 3-3
Akira Corassani made his UFC debut in September 2012 with a win over Andy Ogle.
After three straight victories, he lost three bouts to stiff competition, including future champions Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier.
After a loss on home turf to Sam Sicilia, Corassani decided to call it a career and retired in 2015.
Per Eklund
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 1-2
Making his UFC debut in 2008 against Sam Stout, lightweight Per Eklund became historic as the first Swede to ever compete in the UFC. His sole win in the organization was a submission against Samy Schiavo.
Eklund fought his last fight in local Swedish promotion Vision FC 2 in 2011.
Oliver Enkamp
- Career status: Active (last fight in Bellator, 2022)
- UFC record: 0-2
Oliver Enkamp had a short stint in the UFC, against solid opposition, before moving to Bellator.
He made his debut on home soil, as he faced Nordine Taleb in 2017, but eventually lost the fight via unanimous decision. In his second fight he fell short to the tough Danny Roberts.
Since moving to Bellator, Enkamp pulled off four stoppage wins, including one of last year’s most spectacular submissions.
Alexander Gustafsson
- Career status: Active (UFC, last fight 2022)
- UFC record: 10-8
The most successful Swede to yet compete inside the octagon, and perhaps the best fighter ever to not win the UFC title, is Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson.
Gustafsson made his promotional debut in November 2009, defeating Jared Hamman via a first-round KO.
After losing to Phil Davis in his second fight, “Mauler” put together a six fight winning streak, including a win over former UFC champ Mauricio Rua, to secure a shot for the light heavyweight gold.
On September 21, 2013, Gustafsson squared off against reigning champion Jon Jones in what turned out to be the best light heavyweight title bout in UFC history.
After five incredibly tough and entertaining rounds, he lost the fight via a highly debated unanimous decision. Even though the “Mauler” was robbed of the title, the fight earned him a UFC superstar status, making him immensely popular all over the world.
Guatafsson would fight for the belt two more times, once against Daniel Cormier in another grueling war and later in a rematch against Jones where the Swede got finished.
Gustafsson’s two most recent wins are against Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira – two fighters who went on to becoming UFX champions after losing to “The Mauler”.
Jack Hermansson
- Career status: Active (UFC, last fight 2022)
- UFC record: 10-6
Another highly successful Swedish UFC fighter is Jack “The Joker” Hermansson.
For the past few years, Hermansson has been ranked in the top 10 of the stacked middleweight division, facing nothing but the absolute elite.
His perhaps best win so far is an impressive unanimous decision against Jacare Souza, who at the time was a nightmare in the division, and among the greatest BJJ practitioners of his era.
Sirwan Kakai
- Career status: Unknown (last fight in Bellator, 2016)
- UFC record: 1-1
Sirwan Kakai fought twice in the UFC, winning his debut against Danny Martinez in June 2015, and losing to Frankie Saenz via split decision a shortly thereafter.
After the close and somewhat controversial loss to Saenz, Kakai was unexpectedly released from the UFC and went on to fight in Bellator.
Pannie Kianzad
- Career status: Active (UFC, last fight 2022)
- UFC record: 5-2
Top-ranked bantamweight Pannie Kianzad made her UFC debut back in July 2019, and is the Swedish woman who had most success competing in the promotion.
The 31-year-old is also quite possibly the Swedish fighter, along with Khamzat Chimaev and Amir Albazi, who’s closest to fight for a UFC championship.
After losing her promotional debut, Kianzad won four straight fights, including a unanimous decision against former UFC title contender Bethe Correia.
Following close loss to Raquel Pennington, Kianzad most recently scored a win against Swedish rival Lina Länsberg.
We hope to see Pannie back in the octagon this summer.
Guram Kutateladze
- Career status: Active (UFC, last fight 2022)
- UFC record: 1-1
Even though Guram Kutateladze just competed twice in the promotion, many experts claim he’s one of the absolute best non-ranked fighters in the stacked lightweight division.
After defeating now-ranked top ranked Mateusz Gamrot in his debut in 2020, Kutateladze fell short in a razor-thin split decision against Damir Ismagulov in June last year.
The Allstars fighter has been battling injuries during the past years, but we hope to see him back in the octagon as soon as possible.
Ilir Latifi
- Career status: Active (UFC, last fight 2022)
- Promotional record: 9-6
Ilir “Sledgehammer” Latifi started his UFC career in the light heavyweight division, debuting on four days notice (!), against at the time No. 10 ranked, former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi in Stockholm.
Even though he lost the fight via unanimous decision, UFC president Dana White praised the Swede for taking a top level fight on such short notice.
Latifi continued to fight in the 205-division and would later become ranked in the top five after defeating fighters like Gian Villante and Ovince Saint Preux. He later decided to go up to heavyweight and has now racked up a couple of wins in that division.
With back-to-back victories against Tanner Boser and Aleksei Oleinik, the 39-year-old is scheduled to face Rodrigo Nascimento on May 20.
Lina Länsberg
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 5-6
Former Muay Thai world champion Lina Länsberg wrote history as the first Swedish woman to ever compete in the UFC.
In her 2016 debut, she faced the toughest opponent possible in Cris Cyborg, who was considered to be the greatest female MMA fighter ever at the time. Länsberg lost the fight but went on to test herself against some of the promotion’s best fighters.
Her biggest win came against former Invicta Bantamweight Champion Tonya Evinger.
After her recent loss to Mayra Bueno Silva, the 40-year-old decided to retire from the sport.
Reza Madadi
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 3-4
Reza “Mad Dog” Madadi is one of the best Swedish fighters to ever compete in the organization.
His biggest win was against lightweight standout Michael Johnson in 2013, who’d later be ranked in the top 10. After two back-and-forth rounds, where Johnson dropped Madadi late in the first round, the Swede came back strong and won the fight via submission in the third round in front of his home crowd in Stockholm.
Nowadays, Reza Madadi is the head coach at Allstars Training Center in Spain.
Bea Malecki
- Career status: Active (UFC, last fight 2021)
- UFC record: 2-1
Decorated Muay Than champion Bea Malecki signed with UFC after just two professional MMA fights, after being a contestant in The Ultimate Fighter.
After submitting Duda Santana and outpointing Veronica Macedo, she took her first promotional loss against Josiane Nunes in August 2021 via knockout.
Malecki experienced quite severe concussion symptoms following the loss and haven’t fought since.
Nico Musoke
- Career status: Unknown (last fought in Superior Challenge, 2019)
- UFC record: 3-3
Nico Musoke made his promotional debut back in 2013, as he defeated Italian vet Alessio Sakara via a first-round submission, and came to compete six times in the UFC.
After leaving the promotion he won the Superior Challenge middleweight championship in 2019, and then defended it in his last fight to date.
Mats Nilsson
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 0-2
With a pro record of 11-2, Mats Nilsson inked a deal with the UFC and came to fight twice in the promotion in 2014.
After falling short against Luke Barnatt and Omari Akhmedov, Nilsson decided to call it a career.
Christopher Spång
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 0-1
Former Strikeforce fighter Christopher Spång competed once in the promotion, as he clashed with Adlan Amagov in Stockholm 2013. Spång eventually lost the fight via unanimous decision.
Andreas Ståhl
- Career status: Active (last fight in Superior Challenge, 2022)
- UFC record: 0-2
Superior Challenge champion Andreas “Real Steel” Ståhl’s UFC stint is both impressive and interesting considering the opposition he faced.
In his promotional debut back in 2014, he faced now top ranked Gilbert Burns in a tough three-round fight. Even though Ståhl lost, he gave the Brazilian a good run for the money.
In his second outing, the Swede faced another top dog in Santiago Ponzinibbio, but fell short in the first round.
Martin Svensson
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 0-1
Martin Svensson competed once in the octagon, as he lost to fellow Swede David Teymur in 2016.
Svensson then went to Cage Warriors, where he defeated Scott Clist via a second-round submission, before retiring from the sport.
Daniel Teymur
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 1-4
Former Swedish Muay Thai Champion Daniel Teymur was undefeated as a MMA pro, with six straight first-round stoppage wins, when he made his first octagon walk.
However, in the UFC he lost four straight bouts, before getting his sole win against Sung Bin Jo in 2019. In his last fight against Chase Hooper, Daniel started strong but eventually lost via TKO.
Daniel is the older brother of UFC lightweight David Teymur.
David Teymur
- Career status: Unknown (last fight in UFC, 2019)
- UFC record: 5-1
One of the best fighters on the list is lightweight David Teymur, who made his way into the UFC through season 22 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Making his debut in 2016, he put together five straight wins, including unanimous decisions over top fighters like Lando Vannata, Drakkar Klose and Nik Lentz.
However, after losing to Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira in 2019, Teymur stepped away from the cage, and at this point it’s unclear if the 33-year-old will fight again.
Hopefully, we will see David Teymur compete in the UFC once again.
Tor Troeng
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 1-3
Tor Troeng made his UFC debut in flying colors on his home turf as he submitted Adam Cella in the first round back in 2014.
He then lost three straight fights, including a Fight of the Night winning bout against Rafael Natal, before calling it a career.
Anton Turkalj
- Career status: Active (UFC, last fight in 2022)
- UFC record: 0-1
With a 8-0 record, Anton ”The Pleasure Man” Turkalj made his promotional debut last September as he took on rising star Jailton Almeida at UFC 279.
However, Turkalj lost the fight due to a first-round submission, but is now set for his octagon return as he faces Vitor Petrino on March 11.
Besam Yousef
- Career status: Retired
- UFC record: 0-2
After six straight wins, then undefeated Besam Yousef made his UFC debut against Simeon Thoresen in 2012. Here he faced his first defeat of the career, as Thoresen won via a second-round submission.
He then faced fellow Swede Papi Abedi, but lost again, this time due to a close split decision.
Yousef is now one of the coaches in the National Swedish MMA Team.
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