RUMOR Guram Kutateladze reportedly set for ICE Cage Fighting lightweight title shot

A former UFC lightweight with a win over a top-ranked opponent may be about to land in one of Finland's busiest promotions. According to Kimura, which cites sources inside ICE Cage Fighting, Guram Kutateladze is lined up for a lightweight title fight there. Neither the fighter nor the promotion has confirmed it.

The belt is vacant. Finland's Niko Aikonen and Omar Tugarev meet for it at ICE Cage Fighting 9 in Helsinki, and the reported idea is that Kutateladze steps in as the first challenger to whoever wins.

Kutateladze, a 34-year-old Georgian-born lightweight who is described by Kimura as Swedish, was released by the UFC last year after five fights there. He won two, one of them against Mateusz Gamrot, then a top-ranked lightweight. Since leaving he has competed in Middle Eastern promotions and in Karate Combat, so a title shot would give him a clearer route back to a belt.

Both men in the December bout arrive with momentum. Aikonen last won by first-round knockout over Sweden's John Oldenqvist at ICE Cage Fighting 8. Tugarev stopped Fabian Miranda by second-round TKO on the same card and was previously interim lightweight champion at Cage Warriors, which gives the title fight a real pedigree.

There is a cost on the Swedish side. Kimura says ICE Cage's planned Stockholm event for next spring is now not expected to happen in the near future, according to several accounts. That included a boxing match between Andreas Ståhlberg and Douglas Hammar, and Ståhlberg has said the promotion has put its Swedish plans on hold.

Watch for an official announcement from ICE Cage or Kutateladze, and for the result in Helsinki on Dec. 19, which will decide who he would face.