Five Reasons Why I’m Super F—ing Pumped For UFC 286 In London

5. We love Gunni and Makwan over here

Lastly, I gotta give a shoutout to my fellow Scandinavians.

Both Gunnar Nelson and Makwan Amirkhani are beloved by the Swedish MMA fans including myself. Nelson even headlined a UFC card over here before (although that fight was kind of a snoozefest), and Amirkhani introduced himself to the Swedish fans by scoring a eight-second knockout in a sold-out Tele2 Arena before announcing that he’d actually move to Stockholm for a while.

What I’m trying to say is that we as Swedish fans are emotionally invested in these two fighters, even though Nelson is from Iceland and Amirkhani from Finland.

Some may believe that all Scandinavians are just the same and that we always root for each other in sports – and while that’s not really true at all, it is when it comes to these two fighters in particular.

For me as a karate guy too, I find Nelson’s style especially fascinating. I love how he’s cold like Fedor Emelianenko, how he bounces around like he’s in a point karate match and how he suddenly bursts in with the perfect timing when the opening presents itself. And how he’s putting it all together with his incredible grappling skills too.

Amirkhani is always fun to watch as well.

Even though I’m still waiting for that next Swedish event (or Scandinavian event, at the very least), this gives me a little fix and calms my nerves for the time being.