After the fallout between the Dutch based Golden Glory gym and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, one of the fighters to come out on the short end was Norwegian heavyweight ‘The Viking’ Jon Olav Einemo (6-2) who was cut from the top promotion after losing his UFC debut.
Now word comes from MMAFighting.com that Einemo is set to make his return against Mike Russow (14-1, 1NC) at the upcoming UFC on FOX 2 event in January.
The website confirmed with sources that both fighters have made verbal agreements to fight at the January 28 event, which is expected to take place at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Einemo was released, along with several others which included Alistair Overeem and Marloes Coenen, over the business practices of the Golden Glory management. Zuffa and the Dutch gym have since worked out their differences, it appears, with the signing of Einemo.
‘The Viking’ debuted last June against Dave Herman on the main card of the UFC 131 event in Vancouver, Canada. Despite earning the “Fight of the Night” bonus, Einemo would come out on the losing end, suffering a second round TKO loss to ‘Pee Wee’. Einemo is best known as the only man to defeat Roger Gracie at an ADCC grappling event, so it’s unclear why he opted to stand and trade with Herman last summer.
Russow, a Chicago police officer (the last I could confirm) has won ten straight fights having earned three of them in the Octagon. His latest victim was Jon Madsen last March, winning by second round TKO at UFC Fight Night 24. His most memorable win came in May 2010, when he took a beating from Todd Duffee at UFC 114 but would then come back with a knockout punch in the third round of their Las Vegas bout.
Russow is like the little train that could, so it will be interesting to see how he does against someone with Einemo’s submission background. I’d like to bet on ‘The Viking’ but it seems you can’t count Russow out, ever.