A day after Niklas Bäckström’s victory at Botnia Punishment XI, MMA Viking talks with the HILTI fighter about the bout against highly regarded veteran Sergej Grecicho. The Swede talks about the support from the Finnish crowd and his post-fight plans.

Fight Video

Interview

MMA Viking : What did you think of your performance?
Bäckström : It was okay considering the circumstances. He was relentless with his submissions, and he didn’t let me get a chance to breath or hit him, but I think I could have finished the fight, so im not completely satisfied.

MMA Viking : Did taking the fight on short notice impact you?
Bäckström : Yes it definitely did effect my conditioning.

MMA Viking : He is a well known grappler, was the game plan to work on the ground?
Bäckström : My plan was to beat him up, where he was most comfortable getting beaten up. He seemed pretty OK with being ground n pounded, so thats what I did.

MMA Viking : Do you feel threatened by any of his submissions?
Bäckström : No, not really. I was mostly trying to not puke.

MMA Viking : Did you want to keep the fight more standing?
Bäckström : It was a pretty small ring, so I couldn’t work my stand up as much as I wanted. I did not want him on top of me going for the leg locks.

MMA Viking : What did you think of the Botnia Punishment promotion and the Finnish fans?
Bäckström : The Finnish fans were great! They cheered my name and they screamed sverige sverige!

MMA Viking : When will you be back in the gym again?
Bäckström : I’ll be back in HILTI in 1 week, and I will stay in Finland and train a little bit in Seinäjoki and Vaasa.

MMA Viking : When do you want to fight next?
Bäckström : Any time now is good!

I’d like to thank my sponsors Kenka and Happy People (a clothing labol from my home town Luleå).  Also Hilti and my brothers Magnus and Stefan and of course Fernando.