One of the least heralded fights on the very underheralded UFC 80 card pits Canada's TKO champ Sam Stout against Sweden's baddest man, Per Eklund. Eklund is featured in a good article on Sherdog today.
The man from the Swedish capital has worked hard since debuting in MMA six years ago. In addition to fighting in his own backyard, he has traveled to Russia, Denmark, Finland, Holland and England to take on some of the best competition on the continent.
Highlighting those early years were wins in two four-man, one-night lightweight tournaments. One of those tournaments took place in FinnFight. For those unfamiliar with the promotion, FinnFight was notorious for holding the most brutal events in Europe around the turn of the millennium, using old-school vale tudo rules that practically allowed everything except biting, eye-gouging, groin strikes and hair-pulling.
The article also features an interview and discusses Eklund's training in Brazil and with Team Quest. Here's a highlight reel.
Unless he's dramatically improved his ground skills, I'd say Sam Stout is in big trouble in this fight.