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This weekend sees the UFC return to London for its latest Fight Night event, and UK stars like Tom Aspinall, Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann will be hoping to win big in front of their home fans.
Over the years, the UFC has visited the UK on numerous occasions. At those events, we’ve seen home favorites pick up huge wins – and suffer some devastating defeats, too.
While it’s always better from a crowd perspective to see a home favorite win, it’s often just as memorable when they lose, and on occasion, a bad loss for a home fighter can make a star of whoever defeats them.
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Here are five times that UK favorites won at home in the UFC - and five times that they suffered devastating defeats.
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#5. Tom Aspinall vs. Alexander Volkov – UFC Fight Night 204
This weekend sees Tom Aspinall face off with Curtis Blaydes in the headline bout of the UFC’s latest trip to London. The Manchester native will be hoping to repeat the victory that he pulled off in the promotion’s last visit there.
This past March saw Aspinall faced with his toughest test to date in the form of top-ranked heavyweight contender Alexander Volkov. More importantly, the bout was his first headliner in the world’s biggest MMA promotion, too.
However, if Aspinall had any nerves coming into the clash, he certainly didn’t show them once it was fight time. Within seconds of the bout beginning, the Liverpool native rushed ‘Drago’ with some punches and then took him down with ease.
Volkov was able to reverse position and get to his feet after eating some elbows, but it didn’t take long for Aspinall to drag him right back down. From there, he locked up a straight armbar, forcing the Russian to submit.
The win transformed Aspinall from a strong prospect into a genuine heavyweight title contender. While he was the sixth UK favorite to win at the event, it’s safe to say that his victory was bigger than any other that night.
#4. Paul Taylor vs. Edilberto Crocota – UFC 70
By 2007, the UFC had not visited the UK for almost five years. However, buoyed by the success of new British star Michael Bisping, they booked a trip to Manchester and immediately began to hoover up some UK talent to fill the card.
One fighter signed by the promotion was Walsall’s Paul Taylor, who, despite a solid record of 7-1-1, was largely unknown by the wider UFC fanbase.
‘Relentless’ found himself matched with unbeaten Brazilian prospect Edilberto Crocota. As the bout was placed as the opening fight of the night, there was plenty of pressure on him to deliver in front of his home fans.
Thankfully, Taylor did not disappoint. Despite the arena not being quite full, the crowd were molten for the striker and he made a huge impact, hurting the Brazilian with brutal leg kicks through the first two rounds before stopping him with a head kick in the third.
The roof practically blew off as the referee finally pulled ‘Relentless’ off. While he did not go onto superstardom with the UFC, he certainly set the tone for the next generation of UK talent inside the octagon.
#3. Dan Hardy vs. Mike Swick – UFC 105
Despite only debuting in the UFC in late 2008, by late 2009, Dan Hardy was the hottest fighter in UK MMA. ‘The Outlaw’ had reeled off three wins in the octagon and was all set to look for his fourth when he was matched with Dong Hyun Kim in Manchester that November.
However, when Kim pulled out with an injury, Mike Swick stepped in. Suddenly, the fight took on a whole new meaning. ‘Quick’ was considered to be one fight away from a welterweight title shot, and so the bout with Hardy became a No.1 contender’s clash.
Most fans were favouring Swick, who had more experience at the top level, to win, but they figured without the huge boost that Hardy would have from fighting in front of his home fans, and also overlooked his punching power.
The fight didn’t turn out to be all that entertaining, as the majority of it was spent in the clinch. But the telling moments all belonged to Hardy. ‘The Outlaw’ caught Swick cleanly in the first and third rounds of the bout, rocking him and leaving him wobbled, and that was enough to earn him a decision.
The win was not only the biggest of Hardy’s career to that point, but it was also arguably the biggest win by a UK fighter in the UFC to that point, too. It led to ‘The Outlaw’ becoming the first British fighter to challenge for gold in the octagon.
#2. Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben – UFC 89
When he emerged into the UFC in 2006, Michael Bisping instantly became the UK’s first real homegrown MMA star, quickly surpassing the likes of Ian Freeman and Lee Murray.
The promotion didn’t take long to use Bisping’s popularity to move into the UK market. Just over a year after their first trip to Manchester, ‘The Count’ found himself in his first headline bout in the UK, against perennial middleweight contender Chris Leben.
‘The Crippler’ had talked a good game throughout the build up to the fight, promising to knock Bisping out in front of his home fans in Birmingham. The fact that he was so happy to play the villain only made for a more raucous atmosphere when it came to fight time.
However, despite all of his vows, Leben couldn’t really lay a glove on Bisping, as ‘The Count’ used his movement, footwork and cardio to pick him apart throughout the three rounds, busting him up in the process.
It would take Bisping the best part of another decade to reach his ultimate goal – winning the UFC middleweight title – but this was the first of five victories he achieved in headline bouts in the UK, and it remains highly memorable to this day.
#1. Darren Till vs. Stephen Thompson – UFC Fight Night 130
By the latter part of the 2010’s, it felt like what had been a golden age of sorts for UK fighters in the UFC was beginning to come to an end. Stars like Michael Bisping, Dan Hardy and Brad Pickett were no longer near the top of their divisions, but one fighter seemed to be holding onto the torch.
That fighter was welterweight prospect Darren Till, who had picked up three wins in the octagon before defeating Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in a real breakout performance at the end of 2017.
The UFC clearly saw star quality in ‘The Gorilla’, and so when they booked an event in Liverpool in May 2018, they placed Till in the headline bout against perennial welterweight title contender Stephen Thompson.
To say that Till proved to be popular with his hometown fans would be an understatement. The Liverpool crowd practically blew the roof off the arena when he walked to the octagon to Neil Diamond’s 'Sweet Caroline', and remained behind him throughout the fight, which lasted the distance.
Remarkably, too, despite being faced with a tricky stylistic match, ‘The Gorilla’ pulled off a win, defeating Thompson at his own game in what was almost a point-fighting bout.
It was one of the biggest wins by a UK fighter in front of their home crowd in some time, and over four years later, Till still hasn’t really topped it.
Not all UK favorites were able to pick up a big UFC win in their home country, though - here are five who suffered devastating defeats.
#5. John Hathaway vs. Mike Pyle – UFC 120
When UFC 120 headed to the UK in October 2010, the event was unsurprisingly built around the promotion’s two biggest British stars, Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy. But third on the billing was the country’s newest big name, John Hathaway.
‘The Hitman’ was unbeaten in the octagon at 4-0, had 14 wins overall, and had picked up his first major victory by beating Diego Sanchez five months prior. More to the point, being one of the rare UK-based fighters who appeared to have wrestling ability, he seemed to have very few, if any, weaknesses.
Unfortunately, while everyone, the promotion included, expected him to run right through veteran Mike Pyle in London, ‘Quicksand’ had other ideas. He surprised ‘The Hitman’ early by taking him down and went onto dominate the fight, coming close to a finish with numerous submissions, en route to a clear-cut decision win.
Hathaway’s bubble was well and truly burst from there. Although he won three of his next four fights before retiring due to Crohn’s disease in 2014, he never ascended the ladder as he’d have hoped to after losing in front of his hometown fans.
#4. Jimi Manuwa vs. Alexander Gustafsson – UFC Fight Night 37
While he seems to have been forgotten by many UFC fans now, Jimi Manuwa was once widely considered a top-10 contender in the light heavyweight division. So, it was unsurprising that the native of London received a big push in the UK from the promotion.
‘Poster Boy’ reeled off three wins in a row at the start of his career in the octagon, and that was enough to not only move him into the rankings at 205lbs, but also to propel him into his first headline bout.
The only problem? Manuwa’s opponent was Alexander Gustafsson, who was coming off the back of his razor-close loss to Jon Jones in their light heavyweight title fight. At the time, ‘The Mauler’ was comfortably the second-best fighter in the world at his weight.
Manuwa still received a huge welcome from the fans in London when he walked to the octagon, but despite giving it his best shot, he simply couldn’t overcome the Swedish fighter and ended up being stopped after Gustafsson overwhelmed him with strikes in the second round.
In this instance, nobody really expected the British fighter to pull off the big win, but for the UK fans in attendance, it was still disappointing to see ‘Poster Boy’ go down.
#3. Brad Pickett vs. Renan Barao – UFC 138
When the UFC dissolved its sister promotion, the WEC, in late 2010 and introduced the featherweight and bantamweight divisions to the octagon, it meant that British MMA fans had a new star to get behind – 135lb contender Brad Pickett.
A longtime veteran of promotions such as Cage Rage, Pickett had been hugely successful in the WEC, going 3-1 and becoming one of the few fighters to ever defeat future flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson.
When his UFC debut was announced, though, it didn’t look like an easy fight. He was matched with the hottest prospect in the bantamweight division, Brazil’s Renan Barao, in the co-main event of UFC 138 in Birmingham.
Unsurprisingly, the crowd were firmly behind ‘One Punch’, but despite his best efforts, he came up short. In a wild fight from start to finish, the two bantamweights exchanged huge shots, but as the first round came towards an end, Barao rocked Pickett with a combo and then dropped him with a knee.
‘One Punch’ was unable to recover before the Brazilian pounced on him and quickly submitted him with a nasty rear-naked choke, taking the wind out of the sails of the crowd.
Pickett did recover from the loss and ended up winning his next two fights, including one in the UK, but it was hard not to be disappointed for him after this bout.
#2. Darren Till vs. Jorge Masvidal – UFC Fight Night 147
The UFC’s return to London in March 2019 was built around Darren Till, who, despite failing in his attempt to become welterweight champion in his bout with Tyron Woodley, was clearly the promotion’s top British star.
Till was matched with what looked to be a favorable opponent in the event’s headliner in the form of Jorge Masvidal, who hadn’t fought since a November 2017 loss to Stephen Thompson. On paper, at least, it looked set to be a great homecoming for ‘The Gorilla’.
Early on, it looked like things would go to plan as Till decked ‘Gamebred’ with literally his first punch – a thudding left hand. However, Masvidal survived and as the fight went on, while Till tagged him a few more times, it was clear that he was working out the timing of the Liverpool-based fighter.
Sure enough, in the second round, ‘Gamebred’ began to land the better strikes and ended up catching Till with a clean one-two, knocking him senseless and stunning the London crowd who’d been expecting a victory for ‘The Gorilla’.
Masvidal would use the win as a springboard to more success, while Till has only won one fight since – and has not fought in the UK since, either.
#1. Dan Hardy vs. Carlos Condit – UFC 120
The most devastating loss suffered by a UK favorite at home in the UFC has to be Dan Hardy’s 2010 defeat at the hands of Carlos Condit. In the space of a single round, Hardy went from being the conquering hero and top contender in the welterweight division to an unconscious heap knocked firmly out of the title picture.
The bout wasn’t actually the headliner at UFC 120 in London – that spot went to Michael Bisping vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama – but in the eyes of most fans, Hardy vs. Condit was the true main event.
The fight seemed to guarantee fireworks, and with Hardy coming off his unsuccessful welterweight title challenge against Georges St-Pierre and ‘The Natural Born Killer’ looking to break into contention in his own right, plenty was at stake.
Sure enough, both men went at it from the off, exchanging strikes without really hurting the other, but towards the end of the round, both men threw left hooks at the exact same time.
Condit’s, though, was slightly more accurate, and it reached its target first. ‘The Outlaw’ was sent crashing to the ground, and a couple of follow-up shots switched out his lights.
It didn’t take long for the London crowd to show Condit their appreciation, but their disappointment at seeing Hardy knocked out was clear, and even a big win for Bisping in the main event couldn’t quite make up for it.
