Fury Fighting Championship is one of the major MMA events in Brazil. This evening it was Brazilian fighter Eduardo Pamplonas turn to enter the ring. His opponent, the Swedish fighter Matti Mäkelä, took the fight with only four days notice. This is Matti’s story …

Tuesday evening I received a surprise call from Waldo Zapata. He said “Hi, Matti! There’s an -83kg match in Sao Paulo Brazil this weekend. Do you want it?” I said yes because I had no reason to say no. It was four days notice and I my weight was 91kg. I didn’t know who the opponent was. I have never heard about Fury FC. But who cares? Waldo and I arrived to Sao Paolo on Thursday. Brazil was 45 degrees hot! It is like a bomb. I have never experienced such heat. Ripping off 5kg in sauna I made 83kg on Friday morning before the official weigh-in. That was good. I was informed that my opponent is Eduardo Pamplona. Who is that? I have never heard the name. And my match is the main event – a Super Fight! After weigh-in my weight turned back to 89kg for the fight.

The entry was excellent. The audience could be around 1000 or a bit more. And boys and girls are almost fifty-fifty. I was amazed there are so many security guards all over the arena. And there are so many metal fences divided up the passages and seats. Of course fighters can’t get into the arena blocked. I wondered if the show might turn out dangerous.

The rules was with knees on the ground, no elbows, stomping allowed but not to the head. We would go three five minute rounds a in a square ring. Pamplona is a bit shorter than me and looks have a Wanderlei Silva body type. I saw that his legs was thin in spite of his muscular upper body. So I decided to kick the legs as much as possible. The match? I don’t remember well. Yes, I usually remember but not this time. I think I was very concentrated on the fight. Or a huge jet lag worked me. Still I went to another side of the globe. Anyway, I don’t remember.

Pamplonas corner man was no other than Ryan Gracie but I didn’t notice. Pamplona has three Muay Thai titles and is a BJJ brown belt. So I was informed later. But his boxing was wide swinging with 1-2 combos only. It is a bit hard to see he has three Muay Thai belts. The promoter looked at me puzzled. I am totally unknown fighter from a strange country named Sweden. When went towards the ring, the audience shouted at me in Portuguese. I was excited to get the attention but later I was informed that people shouted stuff such as, “This guy will be killed soon! This guy will be killed soon!” Ha! Ha! I didn’t know that. Ryan Gracie looked ordinary. I mean, he didn’t look to be in shape. Herb Dean showed up to be our referee. That was cool.

First round we clinched several times. I don’t remember much but we fought mostly standing, I think. He took me down takedown and scored a point. Otherwise we both didn’t get in effective hits.

Second round I attacked him with many low kicks as much and hard as I could. Pamplona started to limp. One of my low kicks was blocked and hit his knee hard. My foot is still swollen and it hurts a lot. Still I think I won that round.

I don’t remember much of round three. I think Pamplona tried several times to take me down. After being taken down I stood up and was taken down again, or something like that. Or maybe I tried to fight in clinch.

Waldo had studied my other fights and he coached me to fight standing. So I did. The fight went even. That is what I thought. And the decision went to Pamplona. That I understand.

After the match Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, the only face I could recognize, came to me and prized my fight style! That was a happy memory. He looked to be in good shape. The next day I went shopping. I enjoyed Brazil much. There are many restaurants, good meat and lots of juice bars. Brazil is a fantastic country and I would love to go there again. If I get the chance, I want to go to Brazil much before the fight and prepare well to fight in my best condition.

Lastly I want to appreciate Waldo to help me so much. I couldn’t have done the fight without him. And thanks to Omar Bouiche and my training mates too.

Best regards from Matti

Fury Fighting Championship 2007 May 19 Sao Paulo Brazil Results

Jorge Michelan def. Mycon Pessoa 1RD Submission

Gil Freitas TKO Paulo Bueno N/A

Juliano Belgini def. Viscardi Guimaraes 2RD Submission

Flavio Luiz Moura def. Andre Mikito Decision N/A

Leandro Silva def. Luis Brito Decision N/A

Takafumi Otsuka def. Leandro Issa TKO 3RD

Daniel Acacio def. Michele Verginelli Decision

Luciano Azevedo def. Rodrigo Ruiz 2RD Submission

Eduardo Pamplona def. Matti Makela Decision