Finnish lightweight gunner Anton Kuivanen (17-5) is surprisingly a hefty underdog against the Ultimate Fighter winner Michael Chiesa (8-0). Nordic’s finest bookie Unibet.com has Kuivanen at 2.40 (+140) while Chiesa is the clear favorite at 1.50 (-200).
The Finn goes into the fight with a 1-1 record in the UFC. In his debut Kuivanen dropped a close decision to Justin Salas but got his first win at UFC 149 by decision over Mitch Clarke. Since the Clarke bout in July of 2012, Kuivanen has been really pushing to improve on all aspect of the game. He is currently finishing his training camp at the American Top Team headquarters in Coconut Creek, Florida. The hungry Finn stated to MMA Viking in a recent interview that he will finish Chiesa and that the crowd in Anaheim will see “fireworks” in the Octagon.
Michael Chiesa won the Ultimate Fighter Live (aka. TUF 15) in June 2012 by submitting Al Iaquinta in the first round. Chiesa made his way to the finale with wins over Jeremy Larsen (dec), Justin Lawrence (TKO R3) and James Vick (KO R2). The bout with Kuivanen will be Chiesa’s first outside of the TUF matches. The American was supposed to fight Rafaello Oliveira on the UFC on Fox 5 card in December 2012 but he got sick and had to pull out of the fight.
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