With the anticipated return of Anderson “The Spider” Silva (33-6) this Saturday all the focus has been on the main event. While the promotion leading up the event have been largely on the co-main and main event fighters, a fighter to look out for on Saturday is Makwan Amirkhani (12-2) when he faces Mike Wilkinson (9-1).
“Mr. Finland” created a lot of hype for himself after his debut in the UFC. He TKO’d Andy Ogle in just 8 seconds in the first round last January. He went on to submit Masio Fullen last June when he fought in Germany. That fight also lasted in just the first round. In Amirkhani’s two fights, he has only been inside the cage for 1 minute and 49 seconds.
He is a tall fighter for the UFC Featherweight division, standing at 5-foot-10 inches tall with a 72-inch reach. He grew up as a wrestler in both Greco-roman and Freestyle before making the move to MMA.
Although impressive with his abilities inside the cage, Makwan Amirkhani is just as impressive for his talk outside the cage and his charismatic persona.
In an interview with Fox Sports, he was asked if there was anything impressive about his upcoming opponent Wilkinson.
“Yeah probably his girlfriend. Nothing else.”
According to Bloody Elbow, he said that Wilkinson has “one week left, so he better enjoy it with his family, before I come to London and make everybody cry there.”
He also lets people know that he is better looking than everyone else in the UFC. Fox Sports also asked him what it was like to train in Stockholm before his debut against Andy Ogle.
“Everything is much better. I’m more dangerous and powerful, faster more handsome because I’m hanging out with my friends ins Sweden, and it’s like normal for them to look good, so I have to keep up with that.”
The 27 year-old has a large social media presence as well through his Instagram account. He posted a video of himself eating an apple before his UFC debut fight against Ogle that went viral. Take a look:
https://www.instagram.com/p/x4ekGSSSwy/?taken-by=makulaku
Amirkhani was asked about the apple in the post-fight press conference at UFC on Fox: Gustafsson vs. Johnson and said that girls would send him friend requests, compliment his smile, and the way he eat the apple.
Surely enough, the Kurd-born fighter has taken the MMA community by storm with his combination of charm outside the cage and deadly skills inside. He will gain an even bigger presence now that the featherweight trains at SBG Ireland with the likes of Conor McGregor, Artem Lobov, and Gunnar Nelson.
Makwan Amirkhani has all the essentials needed to become a mainstream fighter. He is poised to become a star in the UFC if he can continue to win and climb up the ladder of the featherweight division.
Amirkhani will headline the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Bisping this Saturday on UFC Fight Pass.
