MMA Viking has learned that the Cage 21 main event fight between top light heavyweight Juha Saarinen and Ilir Latifi is off due to an injury suffered by Saarinen. Saarinen hurt his knee few days ago in wrestling practice at the FinnFighters Gym. The knee was examined by a doctor who confirmed that there was ligament damage in the knee. The injury will require surgery which will leave Saarinen on the shelf for months.
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Cage matchmaker Olli Hartikainen commented the situation to MMA Viking:
“The injury happened few days ago when Saarinen was wrestling with his team mate Juho Valamaa. On last ten seconds of the last round Saarinen twisted his knee and it popped. The knee swoll up so Saarinen went to a doctor and later they did a MRI study on the knee. The study confirmed that MCL and meniscus has been damaged in the knee and that surgery is needed.”
As a replacement fight Cage promotion has added rising Finnish welterweight Kai Puolakka (8-3) to the card. The Finn is coming off an impressive win over Johan Vänttinen (9-3) at Cage 19. At the Cage 21 the Finn will lock horns with Ukranian Evgeni Fomenko (11-8) who fought seven times in 2012 going 4-3. In his last fight at M-1 in December Fomenko was at the wrong end of Arthur Guseinov’s spinning back kick that crushed into Fomenko’s liver (vid at youtube).
