Here are updated MMA Viking’s Official Nordic MMA rankings. The updated rankings take into consideration events through mid October including recent UFC, Bellator, Cage Warriors, Royal Arena, Carelia Fight, Fight Festival, Superior Challenge, and Vision shows among others.

Updated Nordic Rankings

Heavyweight

Yosef Muhammad Makes a Statement with Pro Debut Victory

Eddy Bengtsson, Sweden
Marko Patteri, Finland
Kalle Da Silva, Finland
Yosef Ali Mohammad, Sweden
Christian Colombo, Denmark

Summary: Nordic heavyweight division is still surprisingly thin. Jörgen Kruth is no longer in the rankings, as has retired before making his official drop to light heavyweight. Swedish wrestling powerhouse Eddy Bengtsson was busy in May racking up wins at the Zone FC and Cage Warriors shows. Finnish meat truck Marko Patteri won his international debut in Thailand at the DARE promotion’s underground fight show that was a part of a reality TV series.

Athletic Swede Yosef Ali Mohammed, watch exclusive video interview, made an impressive pro debut at Superior Challenge 8 where he destroyed his opponent with a flurry of strikes in less than a minute. Danish heavyweight Christian Colombo got his third professional victory at European MMA 2.

Light Heavyweight

Alexander_Gustafsson — #1 Ranked Gustafsson Co-Headlines UFC on Fox 5 Against Rua

Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson, Sweden
Ilir Latifi, Sweden
Juha “Juice” Saarinen , Finland
Toni Valtonen, Finland
Marcus ”Caveman” Vänttinen, Finland

Contenders: Joachim Christensen (Den), Matti Mäkelä (Swe), Timo Karttunen (Fin), Johan Jorup (Swe)

Summary: Sweden’s superstar Alex “the Mauler” Gustafsson is one a league of his own at the Nordic light heavyweight division. Gustafsson will face the biggest challenge of his career in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua when the two fight on the UFC on Fox 5 card. Another Swede takes the second place as Ilir Latifi extended his winning streak to three with win over Jorge Oliveira at Superior Challenge 8.

Finland’s Juha Saarinen scored a quick knock out win at Carelia Fight 8. Toni Valtonen is back in business with a TKO win over Ilja Skondric at Carelia Fight 8. Marcus Vänttinen had his torn ACL fixed after his Bellator debut. The Finn is back in training and expected to return to action in few months.

Middleweight

TorWinsZoneFC — Troeng’s Win Over Nilsson Propels Him To Nordic’s Top

Contenders: Victor Cheng (Swe), Jack Hermansson (Nor), Mikkel Guldbaek (Den), Lucio Linhares (Fin)

Summary: In a rarely seen match up between two top ranked fighters of the same nationality Tor Troeng took the title of Sweden’s best middleweight from Mats Nilsson at The Zone FC “Demolition” event in May. “The Hammer” used his superior striking to beat Nilsson, who is known for his excellent grappling skills, in a exciting three round war. Troeng is now riding a four fight win streak and went 11-1-1 in his last thirteen fights.

Las Vegas based Andreas “Sweet Swede” Spang scored a huge win at Bellator 66 when he knocked out Brian Rogers in the middleweight semifinals. In the final Spang managed to hurt Miquel Falcao early with strikes but was outgrappled for the rest of the fight by the Brazilian. Danish Bellator signee Mikkel Parlo knocked out his countryman Simon Carlsen at Royal Arena 2 and is still undefeated after eight pro bouts. UFC middleweight Magnus Cedenblad’s second UFC bout hasn’t been announced yet.

Welterweight

Gunnar_Raises_Hands_Victory — Nelson Wins in UFC Debut in Impressive Fashion

Contenders: Nicolas Musoke (Swe), Nicolas Dalby (Den), Mohsen Bahari (Nor), Andreas Stahl (Swe), Domingos Mestre (Swe), Johan Vänttinen (Fin)

Summary: UFC title contender Martin Kampmann proved once again that he is among the best welterweight fighters in the world and also one of the toughest guys in the whole sport with a huge come from behind knock out win over Jake “Juggernaut” Ellenberger in June. The Dane will fight Johny Hendricks in a title shot eliminator bout at the UFC 154 in November. Icelandic grappling phenom Gunnar Nelson made his long awaited UFC debut on the UFC on Fuel 5 card in Nottingham, England. The fight played out just like we thought it would: After a feeling out period on the feet, Nelson took his opponent DaMarques Johnson down, progressed to mount and choked him out with a rear naked choke.

Assan Njie has been racking up wins since dropping down to welterweight, but has been inactive of late. Norwegian UFC fighter Simeon Thoresen tasted defeat in his second UFC bout when he was knocked out cold by Seth Baczynski at UFC 152. Danish Morten Djursaa scored a huge upset at European MMA in mid October when he finished out Polish star Aslambek Saidov with strikes in the first round.

Lightweight

Contenders: Claes Beverlöv (Swe), Ayub Tashkilot (Den), Jonathan Svensson (Swe), Musa Amagov (Fin)

Summary: UFC lightweights Anton Kuivanen and Reza Madadi lead the pack in the lightweight division. Kuivanen won his second UFC bout against Mitch Clarke at the UFC 149 in july but suffered a rib injury in the fight. Kuivanen is expected to return to action in few months. Reza Madadi got robbed in UFC 153 in Rio when two of the judges awarded the win to Cristiano Marcello.

Niko Puhakka’s winning streak ended at Fight Festival 32 when the Finn, who was on his way to victory, got suddenly submitted by Yoshiyuki Yoshida in the third round. J-P Vainikainen won again at Fight Festival 32 and is 9-0-1 in his last ten fights. Swedish veteran Diego Gonzalez got TKO’ed by rising star Ivan Buchinger in May.

Featherweight

Contenders: Matteus Lähdesmäki (Fin), Makwan Amirkhani (Fin), Greger Forsell (Fin), Tommi Marttinen (Fin)

Summary: Tom “Stoneface” Niinimäki took his first win on the US soil at Titan FC 23 event in Fort Riley, Kansas where the Finn choked out TUF veteran Brian Pearman in the second round. Niinimäki, who has had two training camps this spring at the Imperial aka Blackzillians gym in Florida, should be really close to getting signed by the UFC as the promotion needs fresh blood to it’s anemic featherweight division.Sweden’s Nicklas Bäckström is on fire at the moment with recent wins over Sergej Grecicho and Thomas Hytten, who Bäckström TKO’ed in May at the Vision Fight Night in Karlstad, Sweden.

Akira Corassani made his UFC debut at the UFC on FX 5 event in Nottingham, England where the Swede beat fellow TUF alumn Andy Ogle by split decision. Finnish Joni Salovaara is building another winning streak. At Fight Festival 32 the Finn got a clear cut decision win over Frenchman Moktar Benkaci. Gigantic Martin Svensson suffered a crushing defeat at the Vision FC 4 when Robert Whiteford finished him with strikes in less than a minute.

Bantamweight and Below

Contenders: Heikki Tiilikka (Fin), Martin Akhtar (Swe)

Summary: Sirwan Kakai extended his winning streak to eight consecutive wins when he submitted Russian Vladimir Karasiov at Royal Arena 2. It will be surprising if the ATT & GBG MMA fighter doesn’t get picked up the UFC soon. Finnish flyweight prospect Mikael “Hulk” Silander improved his pro record to 8-1 with a win over American veteran Wade Choate at Fight Festival 32.

Three time ADCC Euro champ Tipi Hirvikangas has won his last three fights with submissions in impressive fashion.David Haggström won a decision over James Doolan at the Vision 3 event in Glasgow, Scotland. Finland’s Toni Tauru put on a show in his international debut at Royal Arena 2 when he floored Denmark’s Rune Petersen in the first round with a flying knee and choked him out on the ground.

WOMEN (All Weight Classes)

Katja_BP — Katja Kankaanpää Wins a Hard Fought Bout at Botnia Punishment

Katja Kankaanpää, Finland
Hanna Sillen, Sweden
Lina Eklund, Sweden
Eeva Siiskonen, Finland
Elisa Nilsson, Sweden

Summary: Undefeated Katja Kankaanpää wasn’t at her best against Simona Soukapova at Botnia Punishment 12. Kankaanpää, who had been sick before the bout, still valiantly fought a draw with the very game Soukapova. Lina “Lynx” Eklund won a decision over Belgium’s Fran Vanderstukken at the Staredown show in Antwerpen in March. Finland’s Eeva Siiskonen won her pro debut in impressive fashion at the Carelia Fight 8. Elina Nilsson suffered a defeat in the hands of Julia Budd at the Invicta in July.

More information regarding MMA Viking’s ranking criteria and previous rankings.