Anton Kuivanen

Anton Kuivanen (born May 1, 1984) is an Estonian-Finnish mixed martial artist and coach.

Kuivanen trains and teaches at the GB Gym, which is located in Helsinki, Finland and he has also had training camps in American Top Team located in Coconut Creek, Florida.

Anton Kuivanen was born in Pärnu, Estonia.

He has two brothers and their mother Valentina is Russian and their father Vladimir is Finnish and Estonian.

Kuivanen's first touch with martial arts was karate at the age of four in his native Estonia.

Anton and his brothers were athletic and active since childhood, playing football and ice hockey.

Towards his teenage years, he complemented his combat training with Capoeira, boxing and wrestling before becoming interested in mixed martial arts.

Kuivanen started training mixed martial arts in 2004, winning all of his amateur bouts and eventually winning Finnish mixed martial arts championship in 2006.

Kuivanen made his professional mixed martial arts debut in January 2006 in his native Finland.

Over the next 6 years, he amassed a record of 16 wins and 4 losses.

Kuivanen was very sad and stated, that he had put effort to being more relaxed before and during the fight than before but it backfired and Kuivanen was too relaxed which lead into his first clean knockout loss and for his first loss in Finland since 2006.

Reynolds had said after the fight that he is willing to face him in a rematch.

In April 2011, he won the Cage Lightweight Championship and successfully defended it in October 2011.

On January 16, 2012 it was announced that Kuivanen has signed a multi-fight deal with the UFC.

He made his promotional debut on February 15, 2012 against fellow newcomer Justin Salas at UFC on Fuel TV 1.

He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Kuivanen fought Mitch Clarke on July 21, 2012 at UFC 149.

He won the bout via split decision.

Kuivanen faced Michael Chiesa on February 23, 2013 at UFC 157.

Kuivanen lost to Chiesa via rear-naked choke in the second round after doing well for the first round and defending Chiesa's attacks.

He made a mistake against the cage and Chiesa - who is known for his submissions and back control - got him down and after small grappling exchange he got the choke locked and gave Anton chance to tap or go out.

Despite having one bout left in his contract, he was subsequently released from the promotion with a record of 1–2.

Anton Kuivanen defended his CAGE lightweight title against Jason Pierce on May 11, 2013, winning by clear decision.

His goal of getting back in the UFC took a huge step backwards when he was knocked out by Eric Reynolds in 30 seconds.

The underdog landed a punch behind his ear when Kuivanen was moving in.

Kuivanen lost his balance, dropped to ground and Reynolds knocked him out cold with finishing punches.

Kuivanen got back in the cage on November 23, 2013 when he faced Diego Gonzalez in Sweden.

Kuivanen needed only 52 seconds to knock Gonzalez out.

Likewise, this was his first clean knockout win.

He dropped Gonzalez and he looked at the referee.

When the referee let the fight go on, Kuivanen put Diego out with few more punches to get the win.

He will fight some weeks after this fight in a catchweight bout.

He will face Oriol Gaset in Salo, Finland.

If he wins his fight against Gaset he will possibly face Reynolds in a rematch for the title and/or face former UFC fighter Reza Madadi, who called Kuivanen out after Kuivanen's fight.

On July 1, 2018, Kuivanen faced the then-reigning lightweight King of Pancrase Takasuke Kume in a non-title bout at Pancrase: 297.

Kuivanen won the fight via technical knockout.

Next Kuivanen faced Valeriu Mircea at Cage 44 on September 8, 2018.

Kuivanen lost the fight via technical knockout in the second round.

Kuivanen was then expected to face Takasuke Kume in a rematch, which would have been for the Pancrase Lightweight Championship, at Pancrase 304 on April 14, 2019.

However, Kuivanen withdrew from the bout due to a knee injury which needed surgery and was replaced by Tom Santos.