Brad Scott talks to Kingdom MMA before his fight at UFC London

Kingdom MMA catch up with Bradley Scott during his fight camp in Arizona

by Ben Heather @benheather

Bradley "Bear" Scott returns to action in the Octagon on March 8th as the UFC returns to London, ahead of that fight Brad took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to Kingdom MMA from Arizona where he is preparing for his fight at The MMA Lab. Brad is set to face Brazilian fighter Claudio Henrique da Silva that night. Today we caught up with Brad to discuss what he has been doing since his last fight, the performances of his team mates from The Lab recently and many more subjects.

Ben: At UFC on Fox 10 two of your MMA Lab team mates, Benson Henderson and John Moraga were in action in close fights. How did you score the fights?
Brad: In both cases people have been disputing the outcome but I think Benson won personally. Look at the fightmetric stats as well, I know that doesn't always show clearly the fight but personally I think Benson won 3 of the 5 rounds. People whinge that he only wins split decisions but I don't give a shit. He is fighting the best guys in the world, its going to be a close fight. Benson is a beast, I spar with him at The MMA Lab and he goes harder there than he does in his fights as well.

As for John Moraga, it makes me mad. John did a lot more damage, John even dropped the guy. Personally I believe that in a fight you're trying to do damage if you think about it. I know we all train MMA as a sport but at the end of the day you're trying to do damage and I don't like the idea that John was doing all the damage and all that guy did was simply hold him down. He didn't do anything, he didn't go for any submissions, no ground and pound, all he did was lay on him and cuddle him and that is not how you do damage. John left without a scratch on him, the other guy got dropped and John clearly won the fight in my eyes. John Moraga is a scary dude.

Ben: At UFC 169 we also saw another fighter from The MMA Lab Andy Enz, who has been one of your sparring partners during this camp. What did you make to his performance?
Brad: He is tough as fuck, and he doesn't give a fuck who you are either, He just stood toe to toe with a dangerous striker and he just kept going. He improved so much in his time at The Lab and was a lovely guy as well. I genuinely wanted him to win, I really like him and its savage that he lost.

I thought he won the last round as well, plus if you look at the way he landed when he got dropped he put his hands down so he must have regained consciousness as he went down.

I was not impressed with Clint, I would break his soul if he didn't knock me out in the first 2 minutes. I nearly called him out after the fight too.

Ben: Sticking with the recent UFC 169 event another English middleweight, Tom Watson was in action. How did you rate his performance and what do you think is next for Kong?
Brad: The fight was crap, it was like he was fighting not to lose. I personally think both me and Luke Barnatt would beat him and he is ranked above us both. Look at his UFC career, first of all he was given way to tough of an opponent in his debut in Brad Tavares. From Jack Marshman to Brad Tavares it was like welcome to the UFC that wasn't great match making in my opinion. Then his next fight against Stanislav Nedkov he went out and was trying to finish the fight and did. He rightfully got the Fight of the Night and Knockout of the Night bonuses for that fight.

Then I don't know whats happened, I like Tom a lot. I used to look up to him a lot. I just don't know whats gone on, just throwing leg kicks is asking to be taken down. I hope he gets another shot and he just comes out and tears it up.

Ben: Now lets look back at your fight in Manchester and the events after, do you feel that after your fight in Manchester you got the credit you deserved for the win? It seemed to me that other guys seemed to get a lot more air time and publicity after the fight.
Brad: It doesn't bother me if I am honest with you. In all fairness Luke (Barnatt) got the Fight of the Night bonus which was quite impressive. It was quite cool when he landed the upper cut on Craig, put his hand in the air and walked away and Andrew Craig was still on his leg trying to take him down. That was pretty funny.

I believe a lot of it is because my fight wasn't televised. From what I have heard I had one of the biggest cheers of the night. I couldn't believe the reception I got, I was chuffed to bits and wasn't expecting that. Plus, in all fairness my fight wasn't the most exciting fight though was it. It was a couple of exchanges which I feel I got the better off. I landed a good upper cut put him against the fence and choked him out. Once I knew I had the choke I cranked on it so hard I hurt my back.

I was happy with the credit I got. When I beat the next guy then I will be more satisfied.

Ben: Did it annoy you that when your fight was announced for UFC London the fans were commenting negatively and wanting bigger names and better fights on the card?
Brad: No I'm on the undercard anyway so that doesn't bother me. I think they were more interested in the main card but they should be happy with what they get on the prelims. I could understand if I was on the main card, but not with me on the prelims. I think everyone on the whole card is awesome.

I do know what the fans mean though, they want big big names. They want guys that they have seen on a regular basis on the bigger shows but on the prelims its the guys working there way up the ladder that's why they are called the prelims. Due to the time zones you're not going to get Jon Jones and the fans should be happy that the show is being headlined by Gustafsson. As fans if you want to see the best unfortunately for us Brit's you've got to travel.
England does not have a big enough fan base yet which is why the UFC are trying to promote it in England by putting English fighters on the card. Beyond The Octagon is a fantastic show they are trying to promote a big show, trying to build the sport and promote English fighters and the fans moan, come on give em a chance.

I would be happy to be on the prelims for the next 5 fights and I would not care. I genuinely mean that, I think the pressure goes up as you go up the card and people expect more but people will be impressed by my next fight. I'm going to light Claudio up.... touch wood.

Ben: The win last time proved you were justified to go up in weight, what was your reasoning behind moving up a weight class?
Brad: Food. My whole life depended on dieting but now I can eat what ever I want as long as my performance is good I can eat what I want. My only worry was being dwarfed by people but I was a bigger build than Andy Enz, I move faster than a lot of middleweights and its a reason why John Crouch and everyone at the MMA Lab has been trying to get me to move back down to 170. When I go in there and get absolutely man handled that's when I will consider going back down in weight but until then I'm staying at 185.

Ben: For this fight did you ask for a specific fight?
Brad: All I did was ask to be on the London card then they gave me Claudio da Silva and as soon as that name come through I knew exactly who it was and took it. It could have been anyone mind I would have taken it but I said yeah 100% I know who he is, I know what he is good at, I've seen him fight he's a jui jitsu master.

Ben: Your back at the Lab for this fight, is that something you intend to do for every camp now?
Brad: The Lab is awesome, I know its predominantly a lightweight gym but there is a lot of heavier guys there as well and they are all good. We are all learning the same, we are all drilling the same, we're all getting our hard sparring in. It doesn't matter what size you are you can still share the same gym. I do a lot of sparring with Benson, hard sparring because Benson is the same height as my next opponent but he is fucking stronger than my next opponent. Benson is a freak of strength, he lifts me clean up and slams me but he hasn't managed to keep me down or submit me yet.

Ben: Being at The MMA Lab seems to have a family atmosphere do you agree?
Brad: Yeah its the same as Dragonslair, I think that's why I get on so well. Everyone helps each other, great sparring, two of my sparring partners are all American wrestlers. One of them is good at jui jitsu as well, he won the worlds at blue belt and I know people may say its only blue belt but its the world championships so its legit.

Ben: Last time out you promised me a win by knock out, whats the plan for this fight?
Brad: Yeah I fucked up didn't I. I really doubt I am going to submit this guy, I want a knockout... not a TKO, I would love something horrific where his teeth hit the back row in the binocular seats. We will see what happens, I have to keep it tight stop him from locking anything on if he gets me down and then let him have it when we are stood up.

Ben: Did you find going back to The MMA Lab easier as you knew everyone?
Brad: I knew everyone and sparred the first day I got back, I felt personally I went back a better fighter. I had been drilling all the things I had been told to while I was away and I returned 10x the fighter I was the first time I went to The MMA Lab. I have added another boxing coach back in the UK, both of them are completely different styles and I am blending them up so I will be devastating people.

Ben: What was it like to walk out in the UFC in UK?
Brad: What compared to Australia, fucking awesome. I got spat on in Australia. I couldn't believe the cheer I was getting. It gave me goosebumps.

Thank you for your time, we really appreciate it and hope you have a safe trip back to the UK and we will see you in action as the UFC returns to London on March 8th.

Davey Grant vs Roland Delorme set to face off at UFC Fight Night 37

TUF 18 Finalist Davey Grant returns home to fight at UFC Fight Night 37 in London

by Ben Heather @benheather

On Monday evening it was announced that Davey Grant's wishes had come true.

Ever since Davey Grant (8-2 MMA 0-1 UFC) missed out on being crowned The Ultimate Fighter back in December he had called to be a part of the UFC's return to England. On Monday it was announced by the UFC UK twitter account that this would happen.

By the time this fight takes place it will be close to 18 months since Davey Grant last fought in England. His last fight in England was back in October 2012 when he defeated Danny Welsh at M4TC 7 and I can tell you one thing, he will be supported by a lot more fans this time out as he walks out to the Octagon at The O2 Arena in March.

Davey Grant will face off against Roland Delorme (9-2-1 MMA 3-1-1 UFC) and like Grant the UK fans should be familiar with Delorme after his stint on The Ultimate Fighter: Bisping vs Miller. A member of Team Miller on the show, Delorme lost his place on the show when he was defeated by TJ Dillashaw. After the show has won 3 and lost two, although his KO loss to Francisco Rivera was later ruled a no contest when Rivera failed a post fight drugs test. His last fight was against Alex Caceres at UFC 165 and he will be looking to get back to winning ways as he fights outside of North America for the first time in his career.

Brad Pickett Talks to Kingdom MMA About His Upcoming Fight with Ian McCall

Kingdom MMA caught up with Brad "One Punch" Pickett to discuss dropping to 125lbs and his next fight

by Ben Heather @benheather and Tommy Strong @Strong_tea

On Friday we caught up with the one and only Brad "One Punch" Pickett (23-8 MMA 3-3 UFC) to discuss the news which was recently announced on UFC Beyond The Octagon where he announced he was going to be dropping to flyweight and will fight Ian "Uncle Creepy" McCall (12-4-1 MMA 1-2-1 UFC) in his flyweight debut at the O2 Arena in his home town of London on 8th March 2014.

That fight certainly has already got a lot of buzz surrounding it and people are excited to see just how Brad gets on at flyweight. So we asked him:

Ben: Firstly, thank you for taking the time to speak to us today. What made you decide that it was the right time now to drop down in weight?
Pickett: I made the decision originally to drop down in weight when i was on my honeymoon. I had a lot of time to myself as it was really quiet in the Maldives and you start thinking about a lot of things.

For me being a fighter, I needed challenges. At the moment I am ranked number 5 in the bantamweight division. There are four people above me, I have fought three of them and lost to all of them so there wasn't really anywhere for me to go. The only people I had left to fight were people who were ranked lower than myself and for me that was something to not really be motivated for and I wanted motivating and I wanted to have a challenge.

With me not being the biggest bantamweight I thought it would be possible to go down a weight class, to reinvent myself and to have a new challenge so that's what I did. Also, the other factor in it is I have a win over the champion so that was another little factor but it wasn't the main factor. The main factor was to get a new challenge.

Ben: Had you thought about it at all before the McDonald fight?
Pickett: No, It was when I was on my honeymoon. I had the McDonald fight and if I had beat him I would have been in line for a title shot. You don't look to change things when you are winning its when you lose that you look to change things so I didn't even think about it until after I got married and was on my honeymoon.

Ben: Was it completely your idea to drop down in weight or had it been suggested to you beforehand which led you to consider it?
Pickett: It has always been loosely suggested because obviously I have beaten Demetrious Johnson so everyone would suggest it but I have never really looked at it as a possibility, as I wasn't doing too bad as a bantamweight. I was up there in the mix and with a win or two I was in line for a title shot so that's why I didn't want to lose another 10lbs and go down a weight class. As soon as there was no more challenges left for me at that weight class I wanted to make a new challenge for myself.

Ben: Have you done a trial cut or do you have plans to do a practise cut before your fight?
Pickett: I don't do test weight cuts, I don't believe in them personally. Its a really mentally tough thing to do weight cutting if you're cutting a lot of weight and I think unless you have something at the end of it, like a fight you're not really gonna mentally do it.

I will make the weight but I will do it when it comes to fight I've got everything in order. Obviously I walk around a lot lighter now, I walk around 10lbs lighter now because I've got to cut that extra 10lbs and now I am stabilised at this weight as well I don't have to diet to stay here.

Ben: Will Christmas have any impact on the weight and drop to flyweight? After all its a time when people tend to eat more unhealthy foods.
Pickett: Not too bad, my weight is quite good at the moment. I will eat over Christmas and I still got a lot of time next year to do it and I am going away in January to America and that's when I will concentrate a lot more on the weight cut.

Ben: Will you be going back to American Top Team for this camp?
Pickett: Yes I will be going back to Florida, that's always where I do my training camps so I am looking forward to going back there. I will be there for 8 weeks and come back a week before the fight

Ben: What do you think you gain by going to America and ATT that you cant get in the UK?
Pickett: one, there is a lot more full time training partners so I have a lot more full time people who are my size to train with.

The other factors and the reason I go to America is because I go away to train so I can get away from my day to day distractions. The lifestyle you are used to eating, diet, your friends and your social life. Its hard to concentrate on a training camp when you are still around everything. That's why I go to America because its so easy to switch on and focus on my diet, my training, everything and its all about me just training for this fight.

Ben: When you knew that you was going to be dropping down to flyweight did you ask to fight McCall or was this fight given to you?
Pickett: I like to look at fights that make sense and to me the McCall fight made sense. He was available as he was supposed to fight Scott Jorgensen and he got injured so timing wise he will be back in the right time and I wanted to fight a tough opponent within the weight class so Ian made sense.

Ben: What do you think McCall's main strengths are and how do you match up to them?
Pickett: His main strengths.... well he is very well rounded and I am very well rounded but I do believe I am a little bit better than him in every area.

Ben: How does it feel knowing you will be fighting in your home town for the UFC?
Pickett: Yeah I am excited, I have fought in London before and I have fought for the UFC before but I have never fought in London for the UFC and for me to do that at the O2 which in my eyes is the best arena in Europe let alone England. I can't wait I am so excited

Ben: What are your opinions of the other contenders to the flyweight belt. Guys such as Lineker, Benevidez and Dodson to name just a couple.
Pickett: They are all exciting fights and fighters to watch but to me at the minute I am just focusing on McCall. Hopefully I will be able to beat McCall and then I can look at other people after the fight. They are all exciting and well rounded and the division is getting more stacked all the time so its an exciting division to be involved in.

Ben: Do you believe a win over McCall and the fact you have beaten Demetrious Johnson before will be enough to get you a title fight off the back of this fight?
Pickett: I believe so. I think he has cleaned out most of the weightclass at the moment and there is no real contenders for him that he hasn't thought so I believe a win over McCall could potentially put me in line for a title shot.

Ben: Would you like to thank anyone?
Pickett: Yeah I would like to thank all my supporters and all my fans.
My two teams American Top Team and Team Titan and all of my sponsors who have supported me.

Thank you so much for your time to do the interview with us and we wish you a safe trip to America for the camp and can't wait to see you fight in your home town on March 8th. Also we would like to take this opportunity to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and all of your family.

Two Middleweight battles added to the UFC's return to London

Barnatt and Scott set to defend British pride as the UFC returns to the UK

by Sam Heard @SamHeard_

The already-juicy UFC Fight Night card billed to take place in our great capital’s 02 Arena this March had two additional middleweight fights added earlier this week. Cambridge’s Luke Barnatt has been matched against Sweden’s Mats Nilsson while Somerset-born Brad “Bear” Scott will fight Claudio Henrique da Silva.

Luke “Bigslow” Barnatt (7-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) vs Mats Nilsson (11-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC)

Team Sonnen’s first pick in the 17th season of The Ultimate Fighter, Bigslow has lived up to the outspoken American’s high expectations of him, already having been victorious twice in the Octagon as well as picking up that coveted Fight of the Night Bonus. Barnatt’s Fight of the Night against Andrew Craig was an amazing bout. On two occasions Barnatt dropped the American and thought the fight was finished only for Craig to make an unexpected recovery. Craig – who was as high as a 4/9 favourite going into the fight with big wins over fighters like Chris Leben and Rafael Natal – was finally overwhelmed by Barnatt’s slick ground game as Bigslow locked in a rear-naked choke. Bigslow has garnered a great deal of popularity for his charisma and direct nature. Comically he and fellow UK fighter Conor McGregor have become involved in a twitter beef after Bigslow criticised the Irishman’s unwarranted hype. It’s a wonder featherweight McGregor – who has been known to pick fights with people ridiculously far outside his weight class – hasn’t challenged the 6’6” Barnatt to a fight!
Bigslow’s opponent making his debut in the UFC is Sweden’s Mats Nilsson. Nilsson will be well known to UK MMA fans after stringing together wins in Cardiff and Glasgow for Cage Warriors in 2013. Having picked up wins in seven of his last eight fights, there is little wonder Nilsson has been enlisted by the UFC and he is certainly a tough test for Barnatt.

Brad “Bear” Scott (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) vs Claudio Henrique da Silva (9-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC)

Brad Scott looks to build on his success from UFC Fight Night 30 with his decisive first round submission victory over fearsome Dutch striker Michael Kuiper. Fighting in Manchester after a near-year hiatus following his loss to Robert Whittaker, doubters of Scott thought ring-rust combined with a dangerous opponent spelt the worst for Scott. He silenced the doubters dramatically with his first round victory and doubtless filled the wallets of shrewd MMA punters having been offered at tall 3/1 betting odds.
Like Mats Nilsson, Claudio Henriqeu da Silva will be welcomed to his Octagon debut by a Brit coming off a massive win. In very unusual circumstances, the Brazillian Da Silva may have more right to claim the home field advantage over Brad Scott as he trains full time in London with the Shootfighters gym. Da Silva has successively won nine fights with eight of the victories coming within the distance.

Both these fights are very welcome additions to an already brilliant card. Best of luck to Luke and Brad from Kingdom MMA in their preparations for the fights; we can’t wait to see them do what they do best on 8th March.

UFC officially announce new UK TV deal

BT Sport Sign 3 Year UFC TV Deal in the UK

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

The UFC has today put pen to paper on a three year TV deal with BT Sport that goes into effect 1st August, officials today announced.

BT Sport is a soon to launch lineup of premium pay channels in the U.K. and Ireland. Costs for the channels haven't yet been announced. Details are believed to be announced later this week in regard to costs and BT Sport will launch on Thursday.

Garry Cook has been instrumental in getting this TV deal sorted and whilst many will be disappointed he hasn't found a home for the sport on Sky Sports it's at least a step up from what ESPN were doing with the UFC. There were many occasions they didn't even show live events even as recent as a month ago when UFC on Fuel TV 9 in Sweden was shown on a tape delay. Several other events were on tape delay and there were major issues with recording live events with fights being cut off. The other major problem people had was trying to record an episode of The Ultimate Fighter, which normally meant recording the episode after the start was so delayed you only got about 3/4 of the programme during the scheduled time.

ESPN did nothing to grow the sport and that's where BT will hope to improve. They are building quite a package to compete with Sky and can offer a whole host of sports to now try and compete. They are dedicated to bringing UFC programming and this is great news to hardcore fans. Whether this be magazine type shows with weekly round ups or insider shows it is all a bonus from what we are used to.

The Ultimate Fighter will also find a new home on BT Sport and this could be a great tool if advertised correctly to bring new fans into the sport. If shown at reasonable time with adverts being show during live Premier League football you are opening up to a whole wave of potentially new fans.

As always the cost could be the deal breaker as most fans seemed happy enough to pay the £10 a month ESPN were charging. If the prices are of a similar nature I think most MMA fans would be happy with this. It will be interesting to hear the views of hardcore and casual viewers alike on this news today.

If you have any opinions on this matter please comment below or tweet Kingdom MMA @KingdomMMA

UFC to return to the UK in October 2013?

The UFC will return to Manchester on October 26th 2013.

by Ben Heather @benheather

Fighters Only magazine have revealed in the latest issue (issue 101) of the magazine that the UFC will be returning to Manchester in October. This will mark the third time Manchester has staged a UFC event (UFC 70 and UFC 105 the previous two) and the 13th time the octagon has landed in the UK. It will also be the second UK event of 2013, after UFC on Fuel TV 7 which took place in Wembley Arena London on 16th February 2013.

Fighters Only has learned from sources involved with the event that the date of the return to the UK is scheduled for October 26th 2013 and booked in the 21,000 capacity Manchester Arena. This will mark the long awaited return to Manchester as the last event UFC 105 was almost four years before this event is scheduled to take place in November 2009.

If the event sells out or gets an attendance of more than just over 17,000 people it will become the most attended UFC event in the UK. I believe with the right card and ticketing pricing strategy it could definitely happen.

With this being the second UFC event in the UK of 2013 it also shows a change to the past couple of years which have only seen one event in the UK in both 2011 and 2012. This will be welcomed by all UK fans as they have been calling for more regular UFC events in the UK.

As of going to print Fighters Only had no specifics regarding the potential bouts for the event, but the event could be shown in the US on the upcoming Fox Sports 1 channel.

While in the UK no news has been announced regarding a new tv deal yet, but I believe the current deal expires in August. If the UFC gets the tv deal in the UK that they have been looking to get for the past couple of years then this event could be one to reward both the new tv station and the UK MMA fans alike.

Keep checking KingdomMMA for the latest news regarding UFC Manchester 2013.