Rising Stars: Here Are Sweden’s Top 17 MMA Prospects

Swedish MMA just keep getting bigger everyday, year after year.

You can always count on our national team to bring home several medals from any IMMAF championship. The amateur fighters also get pretty much unlimited possibilities to fight at home and get the necessary experience to turn pro, with local shows going multiple times a months across the country.

And once it’s time to start fighting professionally, we have a variety of promotions investing in the young talent and building them up to become Swedish fan-favourites before sending them off to the UFCs and Bellators or PFLs of the world.

Another important factor is of course the quality of our gyms. Before, high-level fighters had to go overseas to get the necessary level of training and sparring to be able to hang in there with the best of the best. Now, international stars are instead starting to come over here as Sweden is on its way to become the new hotbed of European MMA.

Today, Sweden is home to one of the world’s most talked-about fighters – the rising UFC star Khamzat Chimaev – who started his MMA journey over here. Furthermore we have more fighters ranked amongst the world’s elites than ever before and of course, no Swede has accomplished more than the three-time title contender Alexander ”The Mauler” Gustafsson.

There’s currently ten Swedes under contract in the UFC and many up-and-coming prospects are now trying to follow in these fighter’s footsteps and make it to the big leagues themselves. In this article, we take a closer look at 17 of the biggest MMA standouts in Sweden right now.

Who knows, one of these guys might be the next big thing.

Disclaimer: This article is only focusing on the up-and-coming professional fighters out of Sweden, thus no amateur fighters will be considered nor anyone who’s already been fighting for a leading MMA promotion.

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17. Abdurakhman Nasrutdinov

• Weight class: Flyweight
• Pro record: 1-0
• Age: 20

The first, youngest and least experienced fighter on this list is ”The Wolf Pack” prospect Abdurakhman Nasrutdinov of Allstars Training Center in Stockholm.

Originally from Dagestan, Nasrutdinov is basically a real-life ninja and one of the most exciting fighters in Sweden. He’ll mix spinning kicks and flying knees with quick hands and solid wrestling to score highlight-reel finishes and was an early standout on the amateur scene.

Last time around, Nasrutdinov turned pro and looked better than ever as he scored a TKO victory in the co-main event of Fight Club Rush 8 last year.

16. Bilal Tipsaev

• Weight class: Bantamweight
• Pro record: 2-1-1
• Age: 23

Next we go to Bilal Tipsaev of “The Wolf Pack” – one of Khamzat Chimaev’s closest friends and teammates who came to Sweden from Chechnya at the same time as the UFC star.

Tipsaev is almost like a young brother to Chimaev and as you could imagine, he is a powerful wrestler himself. After the last few years of training at Allstars in Stockholm, he’s becoming a more well-rounded MMA fighter everyday.

He might not have the perfect record like Chimaev, but Tipsaev was undefeated as an amateur and has been looking promising lately after having gathered some valuable experiences. Now, he’s getting ready to rematch Ireland’s Glenn McVeigh at Fight Club Rush 13 after fighting to a draw in the BRAVE Combat Federation cage the first time around.

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15. Renato Vidovic

• Weight class: Flyweight
• Pro record: 3-1
• Age: 31

As noted, Sweden’s national MMA team is one of the best in the world and Renato Vidovic is one of the guys who’s been collecting gold medals while representing his country at the IMMAF championships.

Now, the Fighter Centre representative is riding a three-fight win streak after loosing his professional debut. He’s been putting on incredible fights lately and really cemented himself as one of the top flyweights in Scandinavia.

Next he’ll go for 4-1 as he’ll take on former Bellator fighter Binh Son Le in the main event of Zone Pro League 3.

14. Rahmads Stromanis

• Weight class: Lightweight
• Pro record: 3-1
• Age: 27

The Swedish-based Lithuanian Rahmads Stromanis is a serious powerhouse who definitely can pack a punch.

The Örebro Fight Gym lightweight found tremendous success early as an amateur and kept that going after turning pro, starting off his professional career with three brutal knockouts in a row.

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Most recently, Stromanis got to headline a FCR event while facing his toughest test to date in the more experienced David Jacobsson who we’ll talk more about in a minute. That bout ended in a somewhat controversial decision loss for Stromanis, but his stock didn’t dropp much at all as it was a highly competitive fight across all three rounds.

13. Zoran Milic

• Weight class: Flyweight
• Pro record: 3-1
• Age: 25

While he’s still young into his professional career, former Swedish amateur champ Zoran Milic has quickly turned into one of our biggest fan-favourites as it’s all but guaranteed that you’ll get to watch a barn-burner every time he steps into the cage.

Interviewing Milic at the weigh-ins can almost be scary as he really gets super pumped up and turns into beast mode when it’s time to get down to business. That killer mentality is why we just love him over here. Also, he might have the best walkout song in Sweden – getting the crowd riled up to the sound of ”Sve bih dala da si moj” by Lepa Brena every time he enters the battlefield.

Milic’s family is from Bosnia-Herzegovina and he’s got massive support over there as well. In Sweden, he was brought up as a fighter at Västerås Fight Club but now trains with the biggest stars over at Allstars Training Center. With his fan-friendly fighting style and well-developed game, the sky is the limit for this young flyweight.

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Zoran Milic throws HAMMERS! 🔨

[ #FCR11 🇸🇪 | 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗪 | 📲 on #UFCFIGHTPASS ] pic.twitter.com/uwwChLgefn

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 26, 2022

12. Alexander Lindgren

• Weight class: Welterweight
• Pro record: 3-1 
• Age: 28

He may not be making that much noise outside of the cage, but Alexander Lindgren is the dark horse that shouldn’t be overlooked.

The Västerås Fight Club welterweight was solid for a long time as an amateur, winning fights both at home and at some IMMAF championships while representing the national team. He definitely turned a corner before turning pro though and now he’s on a three-fight win streak with all victories coming by way of finish.

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Alexander Lindgren lands the LEFT HOOK!

[ #FCR11 🇸🇪 | 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗪 | 📲 on #UFCFIGHTPASS ] pic.twitter.com/6Y4trZaA1u

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 26, 2022

The one blemish on Lindgren’s record is his pro debut which ended in a knockout loss to Christian Stigenberg, who we’ll come back to in a second.

11. Samuel Bark

• Weight class: Featherweight
• Pro record: 3-1
• Age: 29

Here we have one of the most experienced pro fighters on this list. Although Samuel Bark is relatively new on the professional MMA scene, ”Sammon Decker” is a world class Muay Thai fighter who’s been living and fighting in Thailand for years.

After winning multiple championship belts, including a WBC International title, Bark started shifting over to MMA where he basically continues to thai box with the addition of some wrestling and takedown defence. And it has actually worked out quite good for him so far.

Bark started off his pro MMA career with one of the nastiest-ever flying knee knockouts in Sweden. And after going 3-0, he just recently headlined FCR 12 against Alexander Lööf – another hot prospect that we’ll come back to.

While Bark lost that main event bout by split decision, he actually showcased a more well-rounded game by implementing some wrestling late in the fight the loss won’t put him back too far. He’s still gunning for the UFC and should he string together a couple of more wins, there’s definitely a chance that we’ll see him inside the octagon in the future.

10. Christian Stigenberg

• Weight class: Welterweight
• Pro record: 3-1
• Age: 30

Christian Stigenberg is an interesting fighter. His fighting style is quite awkward and will sometimes remind you of the Diaz brothers. Also, he’s tall for his weight class – which explains is nickname ”Lången” which basically means tall guy in Swedish.

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STOCKHOLM SLAP! 🇸🇪 #FCR8 #UFCFIGHTPASS

[ Christian Stigenberg via KO 1:13 R1 ] pic.twitter.com/PrGHWtnpQN

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) March 6, 2021

Stigenberg represent Söders Fight Gym, a really unique fight gym that is starting to make some real impact on the Swedish MMA scene.

As mentioned above, Stigenberg’s pro debut ended with an impressive knockout victory against a fellow Swedish prospect. He’s since won two more fights and lost one. Most recently, Stigenberg looked better than ever as he put on hell of a performance against the highly-touted Theodor Berggren, handing him his first professional loss after a clear-cut decision win.

9. Bartosz Wojcikiewicz

• Weight class: Bantamweight
• Pro record: 7-1
• Age: 28

Bartosz Wojcikiewicz has been one of the top prospects in Sweden for a while now. Although he lost by decision last time around, he’s otherwise looked absolutely dominant as a professional as his nickname ”The Destroyer” would suggest.

The one criticism of Wojcikiewicz has been his level of opposition, but to be fair he’s now starting to take on tougher challenges as he’s trying to prove that he belongs in the UFC. And besides his most recent bout, he has been looking like a killer time and time again.

Had he still been undefeated, Wojcikiewicz would be ranked higher on this list. Now he may be coming off a loss, but the Forca Fighting standout will soon try to prove his doubters wrong and return to the win column as he takes on Swiss kick boxer Anthony Riggio at next month’s Superior Challenge 24 event in Stockholm.

8. Nermin Hajdarpasic

• Weight class: Heavyweight
• Pro record: 4-0
• Age: 28

The only heavyweight on this list is Nermin Hajdarpasic who’s a real maniac in the best way possible.

The Västerås Fight Club fighter likes to talk a ton of trash, although he’d probably disagree with that notion himself as he feels that he’s just being honest speaking the truth. Furthermore, the former Swedish boxing champion has proved multiple times that he’s got cardio enough to go three full rounds – despite smoking a pack of cigarettes everyday, even during his fight camps.

Hajdarpasic made his professional debut last year on extremely short notice and has basically been learning mixed martial arts on the fly, which just makes his 4-0 run that much more impressive as he’s managed to defeat much more experienced opponents such as former IMMAF world champion Irman Smajic.

Let’s see how far he can take this.

7. Alexander Lööf

• Weight class: Featherweight
• Pro record: 4-0
• Age: 24

Another really interesting 4-0 prospect is the knockout artist Alexander Lööf, who’s also fighting out of Västerås Fight Club. He was an early standout in his amateur days but has really turned things up a notch as a pro while also fighting across multiple weight classes.

Lööf made his professional debut at bantamweight and scored a brutal finish that got international media attention, despite almost dying while cutting weight (literally). A few fights later, he competed in a 73 kg catchweight bout that would technically count as a welterweight contest.

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WHAT A FIGHT! 🤯

Alexander Loof (1-0) via KO in Round 3

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— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) September 4, 2021

Featherweight is his optimal weight class though and recently we saw him pass his toughest test yet in a battle of undefeated Swedish prospects, as he defeated the previous-mentioned Samuel Bark by split decision in the FCR 12 headliner.

Lööf is under contract with polish MMA giant KSW and is expected to make his debut over there soon.

6. David Jacobsson

• Weight class: Lightweight
• Pro record: 10-3
• Age: 25

Here we have one of the most game fighters in Sweden. David Jacobsson actually skipped the amateur step completely and started fighting professionally on shows in other countries right away. He didn’t really have a real team and coaching staff behind him, but still made serious progression from one fight to another.

Jacobsson has fought across four different weight classes and kept very active up until recently, as he had a hard time getting fights during the covid pandemic. He’s one of those fighters who just won’t say no when offered a bout.

”Fat Boy Slim”, as he’s nicknamed, has won fights in BRAVE Combat Federation and is currently riding a two-fight win streak while fighting for Swedish promotions. He’s now taking his training more seriously at Allstars Training Center and most recently scored a unanimous decision victory against Rahmads Stromanis in the FCR 11 headliner.

5. Ali Taleb

• Weight class: Bantamweight
• Pro record: 6-0
• Age: 25

We’ve reached the top 5 and it just gets better from here. Ali Taleb has been making some serious noise while looking absolutely terrifying, and looks to be the next contender in line for a shot at the UAE Warriors bantamweight title.

Five of Taleb’s six professional victories have come by way of finish. The Redline Training Center representative can pack a punch, he’s got hell of a shin and he’s got some nasty submissions too.

There’s really not that much more to say other than the fact that this guy is on his way to accomplish big things, and you should definitely tune in on UFC Fight Pass the next time he steps into the UAE Warrior cage.

According to his management, he just signed his bout agreement to challenge the bantamweight champ Vinicius de Oliveira on June 18th.

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4. Tobias Harila

• Weight class: Featherweight
• Pro record: 10-2
• Age: 28

Tobias ”Bad Intention” Harila has the reputation of being the knockout king of Sweden for good reasons. He’s got that scary touch of death and is truly a star in the making, who’s got that it factor around him as well.

Harila’s scored finishes by KO/TKO in nine of his ten pro victories. Before turning pro, he knocked a bunch of guys out in amateur competition too while collecting national and international championship titles.

After emerging as one of the biggest rising stars on the Swedish regional scene, The Västerås Fight Club alumni is now making a run at the Cage Warriors title. He’s scored two brutal finishes in the leading European MMA promotion so far and as he’s been having some problems with finding featherweight opponents willing to sign the dotted line, he’s showed that he’s just as keen fighting at lightweight as well.

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Harila’s fighting style, personality and willingness to take risks tell us that a UFC contract shouldn’t be too far away. At some point, Dana White will almost certainly have a big smile on his face while talking about how he just loves this kid.

3. Anton Turkalj

• Weight class: Light heavyweight
• Pro record: 7-0
• Age: 25

This light heavyweight prospect is a unique and fun guy to say the least.

Some might get the impression that Anton Turkalj, nicknamed ”The Pleasure Man”, don’t really take this MMA thing so seriously. And maybe he didn’t at first while competing as an amateur – although he still managed to score a gold medal at the IMMAF European championship.

However, Turkalj has turned things up a notch as a pro and put in the work. He trains with a strong team over at GBG MAC (formerly GBG MMA) and has also visited Allstars in Stockholm several times for some gruelling sessions with the likes of Alexander ”The Mauler” Gustafsson, who he actually fought in a no-gi grappling bout in Sweden at one point.

He might like to joke around on Instagram and portray a certain character in some of his interviews, but looking at Turkalj’s resume it’s hard not to be impressed. Especially by his run in BRAVE Combat Federation, where he started off by finishing two opponents in the spann of 23 days before setting a record for the fastest-ever knockout win in the promotion in his most recent bout – after which he literally running out of the cage like he was in some kind of hurry.

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What separates Turkalj from most other fighters on this list is that he’s already on the UFC’s radar as he was actually scheduled to compete in Dana White’s Contender Series last fall. Unfortunately, he had to withdraw due to visa issues but the 25-year-old is expected to make an appearance at the Apex on this year’s season instead.

2. Josefine Knutsson

• Weight class: Strawweight
• Pro record: 3-0
• Age: 26

At this point, we might as well say 1a and 1b rather than No. 1 and 2. But that would be taking the easy way out so we’ll let the level of professional MMA experience be the deciding factor and list Josefine Knutsson at No. 2 here.

”Thunder”, as she’s nicknamed, is without a doubt one of the absolute hottest prospects in all of Europe right now. The former kickboxing pro, K-1 World Grand Prix finalist and IFMA Muay Thai world champion is literally a machine at the gym and an absolute beast inside the cage.

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THUNDER! ⛈️

Josefin Knutsson (2-0) via TKO in Round 2

[ #FCR9 🇸🇪 | 🔴 LIVE NOW | on UFC FIGHT PASS ] pic.twitter.com/VFfs93mv8D

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) September 4, 2021

Alexander Gustafsson has reassured us that Knutsson trains as hard as anyone he’s ever seen at Allstars Training Center and that certainly pays off in her fights, as she’s been dominating every opponent she’s faced thus far. If she doesn’t win by knockout, you can count on a couple of 10-8 scorecards in there when the judges decision is announced.

In her most recent bout, Knutsson defeated The Ultimate Fighter 23 contestant Lanchana Green. Now, as first reported by Frontkick, she’s set to face South Korean Ye Dam Seo at one of the upcoming ’Road to UFC’ events in Singapore that could lead to a shot in the big leagues for the strawweight standout.

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Josefin Knutsson remains undefeated!

[ #FCR10 🇸🇪 | LIVE NOW | 📲 on #UFCFIGHTPASS ] pic.twitter.com/3QtrDeQdBA

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) November 20, 2021

1. Felipe Lima

• Weight class: Bantamweight
• Pro record: 11-1
• Age: 24

We’ve reached No. 1 and that spot goes to no one other than Felipe ”D’Ouro” Lima – the first-ever Fight Club Rush champion who’s on an 11-fight win streak.

Lima, who’s an Allstars representative as well, started fighting at an early age and has spent the majority of his MMA career in Brazil where he was born. Since moving to Sweden and subsequently Stockholm, he’s really been embraced by fans and media over here and is now considered our top prospect.

It should really be a matter of time before Lima gets signed by the UFC. At this point, it probably has more to do with his visa than anything else as he’s already proven time and time again that he’s an incredibly skilled and exciting fighter.

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:3⃣6⃣ seconds #AndNew

[ #FCR10 🇸🇪 | Replay Available | 📲 on #UFCFIGHTPASS ] pic.twitter.com/HRoKJbRk2a

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) November 20, 2021

Expect to see this young man compete against against the best in the world as soon as his papers are in order. Once he’s up there, he’ll be a marketable prospect both for Brazilian and Scandinavian fight fans with championship qualities.

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#AndNew 🏆 FCR Bantamweight champion 𝙁𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙚 𝙇𝙞𝙢𝙖

[ #FCR10 🇸🇪 | LIVE NOW | 📲 on #UFCFIGHTPASS ] pic.twitter.com/HNK7iQvfFA

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) November 20, 2021

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