Owning a 15-5-1 professional mixed martial arts record and ranked as one of the top ten lightweight fighters in the world, Joachim Hansen should be at the forefront of the lightweight division. But due to contractual issues, he has had to sit by on the sidelines for the better part of 2007 and has shifted his recent focus to kickboxing.
Hansen was under contract with Pride Fighting Championships at the time of its buyout by the Fertitta brothers, who also are majority owners of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He didn’t go into the details of his contract, but Hansen has had to sit the sidelines instead of abiding by the details of a contract that was done well before the promotion changed hands.
“Until I do a new contract with a new organization in MMA, I have to do what I can,” said Hansen. “So a lot of people back in Norway helped a lot getting kickboxing started up. I’m going to stay warm that way until something happens with my MMA career.”
There has been much speculation regarding his career, including talks of Hansen resurfacing soon in one of the other Japanese promotions, but if that isn’t possible, he may have to be content kickboxing for the remainder of the year until his contract runs out on Dec. 31.
“I’m going to talk to some people soon and maybe something will happen. (But) I don’t know so much, so I can’t tell you too much,” commented Hansen on the possibility of fighting elsewhere in 2007.
Until he’s able to line up anything else, Hansen will continue to sustain himself with kickboxing bouts, running his school and preparing and cornering his students in their fights.
Hansen was under contract with Pride Fighting Championships at the time of its buyout by the Fertitta brothers, who also are majority owners of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He didn’t go into the details of his contract, but Hansen has had to sit the sidelines instead of abiding by the details of a contract that was done well before the promotion changed hands.
“Until I do a new contract with a new organization in MMA, I have to do what I can,” said Hansen. “So a lot of people back in Norway helped a lot getting kickboxing started up. I’m going to stay warm that way until something happens with my MMA career.”
There has been much speculation regarding his career, including talks of Hansen resurfacing soon in one of the other Japanese promotions, but if that isn’t possible, he may have to be content kickboxing for the remainder of the year until his contract runs out on Dec. 31.
“I’m going to talk to some people soon and maybe something will happen. (But) I don’t know so much, so I can’t tell you too much,” commented Hansen on the possibility of fighting elsewhere in 2007.
Until he’s able to line up anything else, Hansen will continue to sustain himself with kickboxing bouts, running his school and preparing and cornering his students in their fights.