Going into UFC 120, it’s the Brits that need wins
The Ultimate Fighting Championships is set to showcase the best of their British line-up at UFC 120 on 16 October in London, England. Last time the UFC went to Britain to put on a card, it ended up as a rousing
success for British fighters and a testimony to the great strides mixed martial arts had made in the country.
That was at UFC 105, which took place in Manchester, and it saw six of the eight British fighters on the card walk away with wins in their pockets. Michael Bisping, the face of British MMA, bounced back from
a first round knock-down to stop Denis Kang. Dan Hardy, as a 2-1 underdog, upset Mike Swick to earn his shot at the welterweight title. Andre Winner crushed his opponent with a highlight-reel punch. And Ross Pearson, the winner of The Ultimate Fighter season
eight, continued his strong UFC run with another win.
Fast forward a year. Bisping was beaten in his next fight by Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva, at UFC 110. Hardy stepped up at UFC 111 to challenge for Georges St-Pierre’s title, and got epically out-wrestled
for five rounds, as the Canadian completed every single take-down attempt he tried and won an easy unanimous decision.
Pearson fell victim as recently as 15 September, when Cole Miller knocked him down and then hopped on his back to choke him out.
But it wasn’t just those British fighters on the card who’ve failed to take the big step up. A friend of Hardy’s, fellow welterweight Paul Daley, had been tearing through the UFC at the time, and then earned
himself a title eliminator bout against Josh Koscheck at UFC 113 in Montreal. Daley got himself out-wrestled badly by Koscheck, and then lost his temper after the bell and threw a sucker punch, which got him swiftly banned from the UFC. And most recently Winner
was also out-wrestled for three rounds by Nik Lentz.
Hoping for a turnaround
There are British fighters who’ve had better success in the past year, and even Bisping has bounced back with a decent win over Dan Miller. But there’s no question that the promise that was shown at UFC 105
has fizzled out somewhat, as Britain’s been able to produce a solid cast of decent fighters but no champions, and no one in the immediate title picture.
Part of the problem is wrestling, which increasingly has taken a central place in the pantheon of mixed martial arts. It’s American wrestlers who’ve had great success the past couple of years, and while the
U.S has a solid competitive university wrestling program to produce stars, Britain has no such feeder program, and it’s shown in the recent UFC defeats of Daley, Hardy and Winner.
There is better hope in some upcoming talent. John Hathaway has quickly proven himself to be one of the top rising talents in the welterweight division with his dominating victory over former contender Diego
Sanchez at UFC 114. It’s the British fighters who’ve added wrestling to their arsenals, like Bisping and Hathaway, who’ve had the most success.
This time around Bisping is taking on Yoshihiro Akiyama in the main event in a bout most people expect him to win, but he’ll still be at least one more fight away from a title shot. Hardy is going to have
a tough test against Carlos Condit, and Hathaway is expected to crush Mike Pyle.
All three of these fighters will be coming in as favourites, and it’s symptomatic of the UFC’s Brit situation. Right now the UFC is looking to boost the images of their fighters, and unlike at UFC 105, when
both Hardy and Bisping electrified the crowd with upset victories, they’re willing to let their fighters step back and have a better chance at victory to give the British MMA scene something to cheer about.
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