Making a UFC debut is never easy, but last Saturday Finland’s Tom Niinimäki stepped up as a huge underdog and delivered on the biggest stage. The FinnFighters Gym athlete had been assigned an unexpected bout with ADCC submission wrestling world champion Rani Yahya at The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale for his first Octagon challenge.
While the UFC’s formula for matchups are typically previous UFC winner against winner, and loser against loser, Zuffa pitted Niinimäki against Yahya that had won an impressive three straight UFC bouts. Yahya had also won four out of five bouts in the Octagon, only losing to #1 contender Chad Mendes by decision, in his bid to rise up the ranks for a shot at Jose Aldo. Niinimäki had been running a 11 fight winning streak, but had never stepped into the 8 sided cage.
“I have maybe a little bit of an advantage in the stand-up, and Rani definitely has an advantage on the ground. It depends on who gets to use those advantages. Hopefully me.” Niinimäki told MMAViking.com heading into the bout. Oddsmakers also had the Finn as a 2X or 3X underdog based on the advantage of the grappling world champion who had notched wins over WEC champion Mike Thomas Brown and recent UFC title contenders Eddie Wineland and Mark Hominick.
40 seconds into round one, Yahya was able to take the fight to the ground in what most, including Stoneface, saw would be the Brazilian’s world. But Niinimäki showed wold class skills, fighting off heel hook attempts and even reversing the world champion twice, outpositioning the Constrictor Team fighter in round one. The gap between the Brazilian and the Finn were no so great as many expected.
With teammates Timo-Juhani Hirvikangas, Juho Valamaa, and Makwan Amirkhani, plus visiting Joni Salovaara, Mikael Silander, and UFC veteran Anton Kuivanen to help in the Turku-based training camp, Niinimäki showed the high-level of sparing he had been getting in Finland. Highlighting his confidence came in initiating take-downs to bring the fight to the ground as the fight progressed. Taking side control in the second, and fighting off guillotines in the second and the third show Niinimäki’s composure and experience as a world-class ground fighter.
Stopping a three fight UFC winning streak with a gameplan that went awry, spending much of the fight on the ground against the world champion grappler is not to be discreted. Niinimäki’s performance was impressive and one judge scored the bout 30-27 in the split decision victory.
The future is bright for the Finn as he gets past the Octagon jitters and is able to implement his gameplan in upcoming bouts. The 12 fight winning streak could now be the beginning as Niinimäki’s next bout which could jump him into the top 10 in the world… the featherweight division has a new threat, and his name is Tom Niinimäki.
