Finland’s up-and-coming mixed martial artist Sani Brannfors talked to Combat Sports UK’s Taylor Collard about all things MMA and her ambitions in the IMMAF European Championships. Brannfors also talked about her experience at the World Championships as well as the ADCCs.
Sani Brannfors on IMMAF European Championships
In the wake of the IMMAF World Championships in Albania in 2023 comes the European Championships in Belgrade. The event will take place from the 29th March to the 6th April. Brannfors was asked about her aspirations for 2024 and specifically the European Championships.
“I’m excited for the Europeans,” said Brannfors.
“I’ve never been there but I think that European Championships level is pretty high, so I’m excited to have some high level fights and of course win. The biggest events I’m looking forward to is the Europeans and the World Championships [in October].
“And of course I might have the ADCC World Championships in summer if I win the trials, so I’m on a big schedule,” she added.
Sani Brannfors will be one to watch at the IMMAF European Championships and beyond.
Evolution and Growth in MMA
Brannfors holds a record of 9-1 in her amateur MMA career and is only getting better. She talked to Taylor about how her growth in MMA is going and her performance in her last fight.
“I love competing so I don’t have many breaks from that,” she said.
“I did have I think three months from competing in MMA and I really, really, felt in that fight that I really grew as a fighter. I had a step up from the last competitions. It was a big experience in the last World Championships in Albania and this fight was an amazing experience to see my progress as a fighter. I really feel like I’m growing more and more.”
On staying active, Brannfors said: “I think it’s the best way to evolve as a fighter. I think I have so much experience. I think I’m getting better, like I thought I was good at competing four months ago and right now I’ve really seen I can be better at competing.”
Handling Pressure
Brannfors opened up about how she is able to handle the pressure of competing and how she is able to maintain a healthy mentality. Showing impressive maturity, she broke this down for Taylor.
“I had a good win. I learnt from that and tried to see the mistakes but having that with a good mindset you know? Not being too hard on myself but not getting too high up there. Right now I think I’m in a good mental state. Another thing is I’m getting better at competing so it’s not like I’m taking too much pressure every time. It’s not like I don’t care about whether I lose or not but I’m learning to deal with that pressure and all that differently, and it’s not taking that much energy from me.
“The last World Championships I had, I kind of pushed away the stress. I’m not feeling any stress, I’m not feeling pressure so that I could always learn to be better in those competition environments. Afterwards I saw that I was really stressed, I was getting anxiety and all of that and I was pushing it away.
“It doesn’t mean that you’re a bad athlete if you’re stressing or if you’re nervous. It’s how you handle those nerves. That’s another step for me to acknowledge that I can be stressed, I can be really nervous, feel insecure. The difference is how you handle it and how you can be better in the next competition.”
Sani Brannfors Talks Finnish MMA
“I think it’s growing a lot,” she said.
“Stuff we need to work on is to do more teamwork. I live six hours away from Helsinki and I think I’m getting really good training here. The best in Finland are in Helsinki so just doing more teamwork, I think that will help us a lot.
“Right now we have a bit of a change in teams. A lot of people who competed in IMMAF transitioned to pro, so now we have kind of a new team and we’re excited to see what’s coming. It’s growing, MMA in general is growing a lot in Finland so that should be good news.”
Brannfors is an exciting, active, and talented amateur mixed martial artist. Her dedication and passion cannot be questioned, and we will undoubtedly be hearing a lot more from her in the future. Her rise will surely inspire other fighters from the Nordic region and help MMA grow there.
The full interview between Sani Brannfors and Taylor Collard can be found below:
We wish Sani Brannfors the best of luck in all of her endeavours, including in the IMMAF European Championships.
