UFC Fight Night 41 results: Emotional Niklas Backstrom taps out Tom Niinimaki

BERLIN – Tom Niinimaki (21-6-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) worked and worked to close the distance and get his fight with Niklas Backstrom (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) to the mat. It proved to be his undoing.

Niinimaki eventually locked in a fight-ending rear-naked choke to earn the first-round submission win.

The featherweight bout opened the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 41 event at O2 World Berlin in Germany. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Niinimaki, who looked to build off a quality split-decision win over Rani Yahya in his promotional debut, shot early for the takedown and repeatedly sent Backstrom to the mat when he tried to get back up. The relentless pressure appeared to be working, but during a scramble, Backstrom slapped on a tight guillotine choke, dropped to his back and torqued the choke.

Niinimaki ultimately escaped, but the relief was short-lived.

Backstrom then quickly moved to his back, and despite not having his hooks secured, he locked on a deep rear-naked choke on his opponent. Niinimaki didn’t have the position to maneuver free, and he was forced to tap out at the 4:15 mark of the opening round.

An emotional Backstrom, who posted his first submission win since his pro debut in 2009, said many people doubted his dream of fighting for the UFC. Today’s victory obviously brought about some satisfaction for the UFC rookie.

“The one who laughs last laughs best,” he said.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 41 results include:

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 41, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on-site in Berlin.)