The conference and weigh-ins were held at Hotel Kongo and Casino in the tiny village of Grosuplje, a stone’s throw away from Ljubljana -- the nation’s capital. The “Kongo” was a very posh hotel with an African theme. The proverbial big surprise of the weigh-ins came in the form of Paul Daley, who weighed in at a whopping 190 pounds for a welterweight fight. In his defense, Daley had not been informed that the weigh-ins would be held on Thursday, and he easily made the contracted weight of 173 pounds Friday afternoon.
April 17: Promoter Zlatko Mahic got the idea for the WFC after meeting Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons in Brazil.
“First we did a seminar together, and as that was a big success, I figured I might do a show as well,” Mahic told me during a discussion in the picturesque coastal town of Piran, located on the tip of southwestern Slovenia at the Adriatic Sea. “The first event was mad stress. I didn't sleep for days, but as I had broken up with my girlfriend at the time, I needed to do something to forget her.”
The inaugural WFC show had a “Europe vs. Brazil” theme. It featured several fighters that would eventually go on to even bigger and better things, including Dennis Siver, Jean Francois Lenogue, Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, Moise Rimbon, Edson Draggo and Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. Former BTT trainer Paulo Caruso is the man who helped Mahic recruit Brazilian fighters.
“I also had the Nogueira brothers as star guests,” Mahic said. “Minotauro and I immediately bonded, so he invited me to come with him to Pride for his fight against Werdum six weeks later and to show me how the Japanese do it. I had a close look at all the details, like travel from the airport to the hotel, medical checks, the production, and I practically just did copy-paste. It was very easy.”
For the next two years, Mahic continued promoting shows in Slovenia. In April 2008, however, he transcended country borders for the first time and went to Dubrovnik, Croatia.
“In Croatia they do a lot of events, but the production is poor and most of the time only domestic guys are featured,” he said. “What happened is that the promoter of the Noc Gladiatora series recognized that I do things differently. So they asked me to do an event in Dubrovnik, and it was a really big success, both financially and also from the sporting aspect.”
Co-promotion appears to be the key for WFC’s expansion in the next couple of years.
“If I only think about the money and try to do everything on my own, I won't go nowhere. That’s why I want to work with everybody, so we can grow together,” Mahic explained. “We have a lot of great fighters in Europe, but we all need to work together if we want to compete with the big organizations in the United States and Japan.”
The ace up his sleeve is not the perfectly produced event or the star fighters he brings, but the whole Slovenia experience.
“From all countries in Europe, we can be reached by a maximum of three hours by plane or five to eight hours by car. Slovenia is a very friendly country; it’s like Disney Land -- no violence, only two million people who are very friendly, beautiful landscape, nice girls and beer is cheap,” he said with a laugh. “So you can just grab a couple of friends, collect a few bucks for gasoline, take a hotel for $25, watch the fights for the same price, drink beer and afterwards go to the after party with nice girls. That’s a carefree weekend right there.”
As the sun went down over Piran, we headed back to Ljubljana for a couple of burgers and fries. I really enjoyed the Slovenia experience myself, but I was ready to see some fights.
April 18: Contrary to Sofia, where the atmosphere was relaxed if not cheerful, everyone was much more serious in Slovenia for the fights. The arena, Hala Tivoli, was a quantum leap in size and comfort as well, including an excellent sound system, a Pride-style big screen and a ramp leading the fighters into the ring. The capacity crowd of 4,500 fans also made their support known for hometown hero Dalibor Anastasov and kickboxer Rozle Jazbinsek.
But before the event started, I ran into Alistair Overeem, the star guest for the night. The big Dutchman spoke about his packed schedule, which had him going to Japan, California, New York and now Ljubljana within a three-week time span. He also told me that he expected to defend his Strikeforce heavyweight championship this summer and that he is gunning for a showdown with Fedor Emelianenko on New Year’s Eve. The chapter with Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, whom he fought last year in a bout that ended as a controversial no contest, is closed according to Overeem.
“Mirko doesn’t want to fight, and I think everybody who saw our fight knows who was winning it prior to the stoppage,” Overeem said.
The show kicked off with the quarterfinals of an eight-man, one-night kickboxing tournament under K-1 rules. The entertaining tournament was eventually won by Miran Fabjan, who had to go an extra round against the much fresher Rozle Jazbinsek but still knocked him out in a fashion similar to Wanderlei Silva’s second KO over Quinton Jackson that sent Rampage falling through the ropes unconsciously.
Welsh banger John Phillips and ultra-tough Czech Bohomil Lungrik were up first in the MMA bouts. Phillips punches harder than anybody I have seen at 185 pounds outside of Melvin Manhoef and visibly hurt Lungrik with his power. Understandably, this prompted the Czech to take the fight to the ground, where he scored some points with solid ground-and-pound. After a scramble, though, Lungrik made the significant tactical error of soccer kicking his opponent, thus losing top position. Phillips was merciless in the attack that followed and stopped his opponent with brutal liver shots.
Former K-1 star Jorgen Kruth made his long-awaited MMA debut against Lithuania’s Arturas Liutika. The fight didn’t last long, and Kruth’s quick stoppage of the journeyman made me want to see the heavily tattooed Swede fight significantly stronger opposition next time. If his wrestling and jiu-jitsu skills are only half as good as his stand-up, Kruth can be a match for anybody in Europe at 205 pounds.
Igor Pokrajac, Cro Cop’s main sparring partner, also won a one-sided affair over Kalvis Gebauers. Gebauers had stepped in on a few days’ notice when KSW tournament champion Jan Blachowicz had to withdraw after hurting his shoulder in training.
Everyone was looking forward to the battle between powerful strikers Paul Daley and Junior Barata. With less than two weeks’ notice, in Barata’s case even less than one week, it was interesting to see whether both fighters’ cardio would hold up.
On top of that, Barata hadn’t fought in three years. Even though the final result, a TKO stoppage in two and a half minutes, gives the impression it was a one-sided bout, Barata really gave Daley a run for his money. Daley apologized to the fans on the house microphone, saying that he didn’t give his best performance and that he wants to come back and put on an even better show next time.
With Blachowicz out, Dalibor Anastasov and Polish ace Maciej Gorski were moved into the headlining slot and they delivered in every second of their fight. Anastasov, an aggressive and very well-rounded fighter, took the fight to the muay Thai stylist Gorski, dominating him with his swarming style and good ground control. A bloody and dogged war broke out with neither man holding anything back. Anastasov was getting the better of his opponent, but in the end he couldn’t continue the frenzied pace. Visibly exhausted, he spit out his mouthpiece several times in the later rounds, which prompted referee Grant Waterman to issue two point deductions. Despite winning the fight in the ring, the judges were left with no other choice but to award Gorski the win due to the two points deducted.
The win was hard earned: Gorski had one of his front teeth knocked out by a knee strike midway through the bout. After an extensive retrieval quest, the missing tooth was found outside the ring, kept in a bottle of milk and eventually reinserted in the Ljubljana hospital emergency room.
April 22: Following two weekends in two Eastern European countries and two very well produced and organized events, I can conclude that MMA is really growing in these places. Fans are very passionate about it, and the media has accepted it as a sport by giving it extensive coverage. Any MMA fan looking to travel the Balkans in the future should definitely try and map a trip around a WFC show -- it is well worth it.
Although still unconfirmed, Zlatko Mahic is tentatively looking at September or October for his next event. Where it’s going to happen -- again at Ljubljana’s Tivoli, Zagreb’s Dom Sportova or even the huge 23,000-seat Belgrade Arena in the Serbian capital -- is something only the “King of the Balkans” knows.