Per Eklund (born November 12, 1980 in Stockholm) is a retired Swedish

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

professional

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

. Eklund was the first Swedish fighter to compete in

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

and also formerly competed for

M-1 Global M-1 Global (Mixfight-1) or MMA-1 (Mixed martial arts-1) is a mixed martial arts promotion based in St. Petersburg, Russia which organizes between 10 and 20 competitions per year. It hosted its first major show (rather than co-promoting with othe ...

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

As one of the first successful mixed martial artists to come Sweden, Eklund is by many considered as a pioneer for Swedish

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

.
In 2002, he started out his professional career fighting on the smaller European circuit, with many wins and finishes to his credit, including winning and defending the Strike and submit lightweight title in 2007. He also competed in the Russian

organisation. Eklund also had a few fights on the international scene, for promotions lite

Shooto Shooto is a combat sport and mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the ''Shooto Association'' and the ''International Shooto Commission''. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, first as a particular fighting system and then in 198 ...

in Japan and Canadian Bodog Fight.
As of 2007 he had racked up a record of 13-2-1, including wins over former

PRIDE Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...

- and future

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

veteran David Baron, future

veteran

Tom Niinimäki Tom Niinimäki (born July 25, 1982) is a Finnish professional mixed martial artist who formerly competed in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed martial arts career Early career Niinimäki began training in ki ...

and future WEC and

Bellator MMA Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) is an American mixed martial arts promotion (entertainment), promotion founded in 2008 and based in Santa Monica, California, owned and operated as a subsidiary of television and media cong ...

veteran Rafael Dias, before getting the call from the

Ultimate Fighting Championships

In 2008, Eklund became the first Swede to sign with the

.
At

UFC 80 ''UFC 80: Rapid Fire'' was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), that took place on January 19, 2008, at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, United Kingdom. Background The main event was originally sch ...

, he fought against

Sam Stout Samuel James Stout (born April 23, 1984) is a retired Canadian professional mixed martial artist. A professional from 2003 until 2015, Stout is best known for his 20-fight stint with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), winning ''Fight of the ...

and lost via unanimous decision.
He was given another chance and went up against Samy Schiavo at

UFC 89 ''UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on October 18, 2008, at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Background The event was headlined by a middleweight b ...

, who he defeated by rear naked choke.
In his last fight for the promotion, he was defeated via TKO by his then undefeated opponent

Evan Dunham Evan Neil Dunham (born December 18, 1981) is an American professional mixed martial artist competing in the lightweight division. He is perhaps best known for 21-fight tenure in the Ultimate Fighting Championship which spanned over a decade. Bac ...

UFC 95 ''UFC 95: Sanchez vs. Stevenson'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on February 21, 2009 at The O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom. Background The event was broadcast live for viewers in Europe and ...

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

*Strike and Submit **Strike and Submit Lightweight Championship (One time; first) **One successful title defense *FinnFight **FinnFight 6 Featherweight Tournament Winner *Viking Fight **Viking Fight 2 Lightweight Tournament Winner

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 14-5-1 , Thomas Hytten , KO (punch) , Vision FC 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:48 ,

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 65,856 inhabitants in 2020 with 95,167 inhabitants ...

, Sweden , , - , Loss , align=center, 14-4-1 ,

, TKO (punches) ,

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:14 ,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 14-3-1 , Samy Schiavo , Submission (rear naked choke) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 1:47 ,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England , , - , Loss , align=center, 13-3-1 ,

, Decision (unanimous) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 13-2-1 , Rafael Dias , Decision (unanimous) , Bodog Fight: Vancouver , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada , , - , Win , align=center, 12-2-1 , Toni Talvitie , Decision (unanimous) , Shooto Finland: Bloodbath , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...

, Finland , , - , Win , align=center, 11-2-1 , David Metcalf , Submission (kimura) , Strike and Submit 2 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:26 ,

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 10-2-1 , Aaron Barrow , Submission (kimura) , Strike and Submit 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:19 ,

, England , , - , Loss , align=center, 9-2-1 ,

Tatsuya Kawajiri is a Japanese mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division. He is a former Shooto Lightweight Champion, and has also competed in the UFC, PRIDE, DREAM, Strikeforce, ONE FC, and Rizin Fighting Federation. Kawajiri also partici ...

, TKO (punches) , Shooto: Champion Carnival , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:10 ,

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 9-1-1 , David Baron , Decision (unanimous) , European Vale Tudo 6 - Ragnarok , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden , , - , Loss , align=center, 8-1-1 , Yuri Ivlev , Decision (unanimous) , M-1 MFC: Russia vs. Europe , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 8-0-1 , Chico Martinez , Submission (armbar) , Rings Muay Thai , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A ,

Enschede Enschede (; known as in the local Twents dialect) is a municipality and city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Overijssel and in the Twente region. The eastern parts of the urban area reaches the border of the German city of Gronau ...

, Netherlands , , - , Win , align=center, 7-0-1 , Mikhail Rosokhaty , Submission (armbar) , WFCA: Latvia Free Fight 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A ,

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, Latvia , , - , Win , align=center, 6-0-1 , Colin Mannsur , KO (knees) , Together Productions: Fight Gala , , align=center, N/A , align=center, N/A , Netherlands , , - , Draw , align=center, 5-0-1 , Thomas Hytten , Draw , Shooto Finland: Cold War , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, Finland , , - , Win , align=center, 5-0 , Teemu Nurkkala , TKO (punches) , FinnFight 6 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:35 ,

, Finland , Won FF 6 Featherweight Tournament. , - , Win , align=center, 4-0 ,

, TKO (punches) , FinnFight 6 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:53 ,

, Finland , , - , Win , align=center, 3-0 , Tchavdar Pavlov , Submission (triangle choke) , Viking Fight 2: The Modern Gladiators , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Broendby, Denmark , Won VF 2 Lightweight Tournament. , - , Win , align=center, 2-0 , Karim Sorensen , Submission (armbar) , Viking Fight 2: The Modern Gladiators , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Broendby, Denmark , , - , Win , align=center, 1-0 , Ilya Kudryashov , Decision (split) , M-1 MFC: European Championship 2002 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Russia ,

Professional boxing record

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="8", 1 Win (0 knockouts, 1 decision), 0 Losses , - , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Res. , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Record , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Opponent , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Type , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Rd., Time , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Date , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Location , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Notes , -align=center , Win , align=center, 1-0, , align=left, Lloyd Hollard , MD , 4 (4) , 2007-09-28 , align=left,

Kungliga Tennishallen Kungliga tennishallen (English: Royal Tennis Hall) is a tennis venue at Lidingövägen 75 in Stockholm, Sweden. The stadium was built in October 1943 and has a capacity of 5,000. Kungliga tennishallen, now a hard-court surface, remains the ven ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, align=left, , -align=center

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eklund, Per Living people 1980 births Swedish male mixed martial artists Lightweight mixed martial artists Swedish male boxers Swedish practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Sportspeople from Stockholm Featherweight mixed martial artists Welterweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters