Cage promotion’s big card named “22” is coming up this Saturday. One of the highlights on the card is the lightweight battle between Finnish Anton Kuivanen (17-6) and American Jason Pierce (10-1). Unibet.com has the Finn has a big favorite (1.25) over the American (3.50).
Kuivanen’s last fight took place at UFC 157 in February. The Finn lost to TUF winner Michael Chiesa by rear naked choke in the second round and was subsequently released from his UFC contract after going 1-2 in the organization.
“After the last fight I trained for six more weeks at the American Top Team in Florida. It didn’t take too long to find the joy of training again. Preparation for this fight has gone really well.” says Kuivanen who made the final preparation for the fight at GB Gym in Helsinki, Finland
Kuivanen went to his UFC fights with a carefully planned game plans but this time the Finn will follow a different approach:
”In this fight I will rely on my own strengths and not think about what the other guy is going to try to do. I want to show myself and others that one bitter loss is not the end of the world.”
Kuivanen is by far the most well known MMA fighter in Finland. The fan favorite is happy to fight again in front of the hometown crowd.
”I have fought plenty of times in Cage and the crowd has always been great there. It’s good to come back on this card that is filled with high level fights. I believe it’s going to be a fantastic event.” predicts the Finn.
Today Kuivanen was also a guest at Radio Rock‘s afternoon show where he commented loads of things ranging from his UFC experiences, training in the States and the upcoming fight at Cage 22. Kuivanen said that he is in great shape for this fight. At the moment the GB Gym fighter weight hovers around 80 kilos (177 lbs) so he’ll have to cut about 10 kilos (22 lbs) before the weigh ins on Friday. In the end Kuivanen send a message to his opponent Jason Pierce “Hey Jason, I will pierce your face with my fist!”. Game on.
Quotes in this article are from Cage’s press release on May 6th 2013.
