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 (AP) - With the world of MMA continuing to grow and evolve, one thing has become painfully obvious for many fans - particularly, with our Finnish Friends to the north.
With Helsinki being one of the strongest markets in the MMA spectrum, it has lacked any serious home-grown fight league in quite some time. Although other organizations have not strayed from hosting events in the beautiful capital of Finland, none of decided to make it their home - leaving the fans served, but not terribly encouraged.
"That's exactly what we wanted to rectify." manager Billy Talent stated in an interview from the head office of SM Fight Liiga, a new fight organization catering to fighters over the 384K registration number.
"The first thing was, we love Finland. We're actually huge hockey fans, and Finland is a hockey hot bed. When we looked at the landscape in our own business, we saw the passion of the fans, but they had to rely on other organizations hosting their events there, but then taking their ball and going home. We want to provide an organization that they can their own and be proud of."
They have obviously taken this to heart, as the name is a tip of the hat to the highest level of professional hockey in Finland, the SM-Liiga.
"We have a long ways to go to build things out, but we see a real opportunity here. We pay fair contracts, and give a place for new fighters to ply their trade and build themselves up. We realize that the better you do developing more and better fighters, and promoting the sport in general, and not putting new fighters against season veterans, you make a bigger pie for us all to take a slice of."
SM Fight Liiga is currently looking for new fighters, and is fielding requests from managers to consider their own fighters for the upstart league.
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