Fight Club Rush aims to be Scandinavia's leading MMA event – and wouldn't mind finding another Khamzat Chimaev
Just four years after the promotion’s launch, Swedish MMA promotion Fight Club Rush has some pretty lofty goals – and they’re already making progress towards them.
“The goal of launching Fight Club Rush was to create not only a leading promotion in the Scandinavian region, but also to give new talents a platform to showcase their skills and to develop,” Fight Club Rush promoter Zlatko Ostrogonac told MMA Junkie. “Additionally, we would like to introduce new people to the MMA world and not just MMA fans.”
Launched in 2017, Fight Club Rush features a leadership group with a production background committed to presenting a visually compelling product. However, the organization also hopes to help foster more growth in an area that is quickly developing top-level MMA prospects.
“The Scandinavian region has a massive talent pool, which a lot of people haven’t had a chance to witness,” Ostrogonac said. “Thanks to the Swedish MMA Federation and International MMA Federation, we have a huge amateur scene, where fighters can enter the pro leagues with lots of experience internationally and nationally, so when the amateurs turn pro they have high-level skills and experience.”
An early success story for the promotion is Khamzat Chimaev, who made his amateur debut with the organization in the company’s debut event and then returned one year later for a professional win at Fight Club Rush 3.
Ostrogonac believes as the company grows, Fight Club Rush will find top prospects not only locally but also throughout the European scene.
“We certainly could support our promotion with only local talent, but we prefer to both support Scandinavian fighters and also give international talents from Europe a shot,” Ostrogonac said.
Fight Club Rush took a major step forward in late 2020, signing an exclusive contract with UFC Fight Pass for the promotion’s live events. Ostrogonac felt the deal was a true milestone.
https://www.ufc.com/news/ufc-fight-pass-stream-new-mma-muay-thai-events-2021
“From the very beginning, it was our goal to be on UFC Fight Pass because that’s where you have talents rise – and also on a personal level and as a lifetime MMA fan, we’ve been big fans and followers of UFC Fight Pass,” Ostrogonac said. “And of course it is very special to us to be the first promotion on UFC Fight Pass out of Scandinavia region.”
On Saturday, Fight Club Rush hosts the organization’s ninth event, with the card streaming live from Bombardier Arena in Vasteras, Sweden.
In the night’s main event, undefeated Afghani lightweight Sahil Siraj (5-0) takes on Austrian veteran Arbi Mezhidov (13-5). It’s Fight Club Rush’s second event of 2021, with another planned for November, as well. The company hopes to build on that number in 2022 – though Ostrogonac remained a bit coy on exact plans.
“While we already stepped up to three events in 2021 despite the ongoing pandemic, we will take another step up, but can unfortunately for the moment not reveal any further details,” Ostrogonac said. “I guess you have to follow the journey of Fight Club Rush to find out more.”
While hesitant to reveal final details, the Ostrogonac said Fight Club Rush remains steadfast in its goal of developing fighters in what appears to be an increasingly talent-rich region, and he invites fans from across the globe to watch the process.
“Not only are we the fastest growing MMA promotion out of the Scandinavian region, we are also famous for our entertaining and competitive matchups,” Ostrogonac said. “Additionally, we have a very special production team that is stepping up the quality with every event.”