Teemu Packalen (8-1) will return to the Octagon at the UK’s The O2 on Saturday, March 18. The rumoured bout with opponent Marc Diakiese (11-0) became official with yesterday’s announcements that tickets will go on sale on January 27.
Packalen did what two previous Finns couldn’t do in in his last fight, and that was stop Thibault Gouti (11-1). The FinnFighters gym fighter only took 24 seconds to submit the Frenchman, that came into the fight with a win over Anton Kuivanen at Cage 33 and Mikael Nyyssonen at Cage 29.
It was the second UFC fight for Packalen, and the first with a full training camp since his short notice UFC debut versus Mickael Lebout back in 2015. The lightweight fights out of Turku, Finland.
Diakiese is out of Manchester and is a rising figure on the European scene. He has already racked up two UFC wins, include his latest just a few weeks ago versus Frankie Perez.
Also announced was that the card will mark the last fight for a pioneer of the sport and native Londoner, Brad “One Punch” Pickett.
