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The last time the Octagon touched down in Manchester, the three athletes spotlighted in the Fighters on the Rise series were featherweight Mirsad Bektic, bantamweight Davey Grant, and lightweight Marc Diakiese. Bektic and Diakiese earned stoppage victories, while Grant was on the wrong side of a finish in his clash with Polish veteran Damian Stasiak, but all three showed spirit and skill on a night flush with finishes and packed with excitement.
One hundred pay-per-view events later, the UFC brings another loaded event to “The Capital of the North” at Co-op Live, where British titleholders Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall will look to successfully defend their belts on home soil.
Before those two elite competitors make the walk to close out the night, a trio of emerging fighters from the United Kingdom will look to add to their recent successes in front of a packed and partisan crowd that will be in full throat from the opening bout of the evening until the final result is announced.
Here is a closer look at those competitors in the latest edition of Fighters on the Rise.
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Mick Parkin
A member of the Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) Class of ’22, Mick Parkin is a bit of an anomaly in the heavyweight division at the moment — an undefeated prospect still not yet 30, showing genuine promise as he continues to progress forward in his career.
Training out of Team Fish Tank in the North East of England, the 28-year-old followed his first-round submission win over Eduardo Neves that secured his place on the UFC roster with decision wins over Jamal Pogues and Caio Machado in his rookie season last year. Back in March, he kicked off his sophomore campaign with another victory on the scorecards, out-hustling Mohammed Usman over three rounds to advance to 9-0 heading into this weekend’s clash with Polish heavyweight Lukasz Brzeski.
Parkin isn’t someone with a singular skill that jumps off the page at you or the kind of dynamic athleticism that forces you to sit up and take immediate notice of him, but that is actually what makes him such a fascinating young talent to track in the division at the moment. He is fundamentally sound and technically sharp, utilizing a crisp, clean jab and steadily improving grappling to have success and keep things moving in a positive direction for himself inside the Octagon.
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Saturday’s matchup with Brzeski offers another opportunity to test himself against a fellow Contender Series all coming off the best performance of his UFC run to date, while also continuing to afford him the chance to build slowly and gain the invaluable experience needed to put him in a position to succeed long term.
He’s surrounded by excellent heavyweight role models, training daily with KSW champ and former UFC competitor Phil de Fries, while also making frequent trips to work alongside interim champ Tom Aspinall and the collection of big bodies assembled in St. Helen’s, and has looked solid through his first three trips into the Octagon thus far, which makes him someone folks absolutely need to keep close tabs on going forward.
Should he successfully navigate this weekend’s assignment, Parkin could find himself earning a greater push and a chance to test himself against even more established names over the back half of the year.
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Christian Leroy Duncan
Over his last two outings, Christian Leroy Duncan has shown UFC fans why he was such a heralded addition to the middleweight ranks from Cage Warriors two years ago.
After winning his promotional debut at UFC 286 in London by injury stoppage, the 28-year-old Gloucester man dropped a decision to Armen Petrosyan in his sophomore journey into the Octagon, falling from the ranks of the unbeaten in the process. Five months later, he returned, delivering a dominant performance against Russian veteran Denis Tiuliulin to collect his first UFC stoppage win before following it up with an even more impressive, even quicker finish earlier this year against Claudio Ribeiro.
Saturday night, Duncan strides into Manchester for a critical test against Brazilian powerhouse Gregory Rodrigues, who tagged in for Robert Bryczek when the Polish middleweight was forced to withdraw for undisclosed reasons. “Robocop” is without question the most experienced and singularly dangerous opponent the British standout has faced to date, brandishing fight-altering power and a 6-2 mark inside the Octagon.
Duncan became a must-see name on the regional circuit because of his combination of size, length, and dynamic offense that produced seven wins, six finishes, and a Cage Warriors middleweight title reign before transitioning to the UFC. He began displaying those skills in earnest once again over his last two outings, renewing the belief that he could eventually develop into a perennial contender in the 185-pound ranks.
Rodrigues is a perfect test for him at this stage of his career, and if he continues to performing the way he has as of late, plenty more people will be looking to reclaim their seats on the “CLD Express.”
Sam Patterson
Earlier this year in Toronto, UFC fans got their first glimpse of what makes Sam Patterson such an intriguing addition to the welterweight division.
The 28-year-old Team Crossface representative still towered over his opponent Yohan Lainesse, and utilized every bit of his 78-inch reach and six-foot-three-inch frame to drag the French-Canadian to the canvas and quickly submit him. After showcasing his jab as an opener and counter as Lainesse pressed forward, Patterson went from pulling Lainesse to the ground in a front headlock position to locked under his neck with the fight-ending rear-naked choke in roughly 30 seconds, drawing out the tap just two minutes and three ticks into the contest.
Patterson had a tremendous amount of success at lightweight through his win on Season 6 of Dana White’s Contender Series, but recognized the need to shift weight classes following his debut loss at UFC 286 in London. His size was always going to make him a threat no matter where he competed, but in eschewing the weight cut in favor of relocating to welterweight, he’s now able to spend more time focused on skill development and sharpening his abundance of tools.
This weekend in Manchester, he faces off with Ireland’s Kiefer Crosbie, who made his promotional debut on short-notice last fall in Sydney, falling to City Kickboxing’s Kevin Jousset.
Making headway in the 170-pound ranks is challenging, as it’s one of the deeper, more competitive divisions in the promotion, but a second consecutive quality effort would certainly further elevate Patterson’s stock and put more people on notice that the 11-2-1 prospect out of Walford is someone to pay close attention to going forward.
UFC 304: Edwards vs Muhammad 2 took place live from Co-op Live in Manchester, England on July 27, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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