Mike Wilkinson was a 5/1 underdog with bookmakers and a heavy underdog with spectators and MMA pundits at UFC Stockholm as himself and Niklas Bacsktrom opened the main card in a featherweight battle. Backstrom was heavy favourite as an undefeated featherweight and was expected to remain undefeated after facing Wilkinson, however “the warrior” had other plans.
Both fighters came out looking to set a pace, Backstrom trying to take advantage of his range against a smaller Wilkinson. Backstrom looked relaxed and almost cocky throwing front kicks and trying to land some heavy shots. Wilkinson egged him on however and didn’t look at all phased by the Swede. Backstrom came in and threw a frontkick which caught Wilkinson, then threw another which Wilkinson countered with a vicious over hand right that sent Backstrom crashing to his back on the canvas unconscious and followed up with some accurate shots to the already unconscious face of Backstrom. The Swedish crowd went into a stunned silence as there home town favourite lay unresponsive on the canvas.
Dan Hardy: “I’ve never heard an arena go quiet like that before”
He shattered the odds and picked up a cool $50,000 bonus along the way. We at fightstore pro never doubted Mike and we can’t wait for his future in MMA. We will support him all the way!
