Sweden
Swedish flyweight king Jonny Touma has grand plans for 2024: “I want to face top ranked fighters!”
Jonny Touma. Photo: Stefan Romare
Swedish flyweight king Jonny Touma has been one of the best 125’ers in Europe for a long time. Last Saturday he cemented his position as a top dog when he defeated the tough and tricky Rohullah Yousofi with very little time to prepare.
Frontkick gets a hold of the champion a few days after his title defense, and in an exclusive interview he talks about this past Saturday’s main event, future plans and long-time rival Renato Vidovic.
“The victory starts to sink in and I start to feel like a champion. I didn’t really feel like a champ before, not that I didn’t deserve the belt, because I do, but that fact I didn’t win it in a fight,” Touma explains. “It didn’t feel good to have the belt at home. But now I’m proud of it.”
The short-notice fight against Yousofi went according to plan, and after three rounds of action he stood as the winner via unanimous decision with 29-29 on the scorecards.
“My game plan was to make it easy for myself, not get into a war. I felt that his boxing was tricky so I tried to time my takedowns. I wanted to take him down because I had the advantage there. The fight went according to plan, I mean, I would have liked to finish him, but I had control over the fight.”
Jonny Touma might defend the belt in February
Touma might defend his belt in February as he has one more fight on his contract. There are a couple of interesting names flying around but the flyweight feels like he faced most top contenders around already.
“There’s a few fighters we’re looking at. I want to face the top ranked fighters, otherwise there’s no point defending the belt. We have a few names in mind. The Danish fighter Mack Promanee is interesting for example.”
How about Renato Vidovic?
“I want to fight him at some point but right now he needs to prove that he can actually show up. It sucks to prepare twice for a fight and then he doesn’t show and I get a new opponent on two weeks notice. Well, that’s the case in 90 percent of my fights in FCR by the way. If Renato wants to fight me he has to prove it.”
Photo: Stefan Romare
Jonny Touma has big plans for 2024
Although 2023 was the year Touma won and defended his title, he has got even bigger plans for next year. Plans and goals he made a long time ago and intends to fulfill.
“I want 2024 to be the year when I fight in Dana White’s Contender Series. I’m turning 30, my goal has always been to get into the UFC at that age and a UFC title at 35. Next year I’m aiming for the UFC and have as many fights as possible before that,” Touma says. “I would like a rematch in UAE Warriors and get that belt too. Would be nice to collect a couple of belts!”
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