Nabbe Malki and Liam Pitts – two of Sweden’s hottest up-and-coming MMA stars – are set to return to action on June 3rd as FCR 16 goes down in Västerås Arena, the promotion confirmed on its Instagram page.
Neither Malki nor Pitts have got any opponent yet, but their participation all but guarantees a lot of buzz for the upcoming event since they’re two of the biggest draws right now on the Swedish regional scene.
Nabbe Malki called out Ebrima Faal for striking battle at FCR 16
Nabbe Malki made his debut at FCR 13 in Stockholm last summer and sold hundreds of tickets by himself. He filled a whole section of the arena with supporters of the Hammarby soccer team, creating an incredible atmosphere as he made his professional debut.
Malki, who represents Stockholm Kampsport, fought Swedish rival Taylan Isik in a rematch and scored a dominant knockout victory in the very first round before proceeding to jump out of the cage and run towards his supporters to celebrate.
Now, while Malki hasn’t got any opponent officially booked yet, he did recently call out fellow Swede Ebrima Faal – and we’re hearing that the promotion is currently targeting that matchup.
“FCR, make this fight happen and you’ll see the best striking matchup of 2023,” Nabbe Malki wrote on social media as he called out Ebrima Faal.
Liam Pitts was forced to withdraw in the eleventh hour
As for Liam Pitts, he brings in a lot of star power himself despite having fought just once as an amateur.
See, Pitts is the son of Swedish TV and radio personality Laila Bagge, and has starred in several reality TV series himself. He’s got a huge following on social media and has brought in a lot of mainstream media attention to the FCR events.
As he made his amateur debut back in February of 2022, FCR landed a special broadcast deal with Scandinavia’s biggest news media plattform Aftonbladet for the preliminary card, quite obviously thanks to Pitts’ participation in particular.
Pitts, a former Swedish junior wrestling champion who trains with some of the top MMA professionals in Sweden at Allstars Training Center, defeated Noah Hedenberg Persson by unanimous decision in his first fight.
He was later scheduled to return to action at FCR 15 a couple of weeks ago, but was unfortunately forced to withdraw in the eleventh hour due to health reasons. Now, we’ll get to see him on the June card instead and from what we’re hearing from sources inside Allstars gym, any potential opponent would be greatly mistaken to look at Pitts just as some celebrity fighter as he’s been putting in real work since the last bout – even doing good against some pro-level sparring partners in his weight class.
The FCR 16 main card airs live on UFC Fight Pass. Broadcast details for the preliminary card are not confirmed at this time.
Stay tuned for more news about the upcoming FCR 16 event and make sure to follow Frontkick on Instagram for the latest MMA news, clips and updates!
Read more: FCR 15 results: Bernardo Sopai defends title with CRAZY first-round KO!
Also check out: UFC 286: Edwards vs. Usman 3 – Fight Card, Start time & How to Watch
