Ed “King” Arthur is set to go to war at ACB in Glasow, and the man in his way is Brent Crawley. Arthur is coming off a decision loss to promotional standout Petr Yan in his first fight for the promotion. Against Yan, Arthur suffered only his second professional loss, and he’s looking to get back on track at ACB 47.
Arthur, who has a professional record of 7-2, has suffered both of his losses in his last three fights, going 1-2 in that time. The first came against Shay Walsh, where Arthur dropped a unanimous decision and his BAMMA Lonsdale bantamweight championship.
“The loss against Shay was hard for the first few days,” admitted Arthur. “But once the bruises started to clear up I found it really motivating.” Arthur took more positives than negatives from that defeat, adding: “It put me in a great position to look at my training, lifestyle and where I need to grow. I wanted to win but I don’t think I would have improved so much without that loss.”
Arthur’s next bout was a grudge match against Cameron Else at BAMMA 25. “The fight was built up to be a grudge match, but I weren’t that fazed by his talk,” said Arthur. “I weren’t as invested as he was, I was just excited to see how far I’d come since the loss.” The former champion said he wasn’t effected by the magnitude of the fight, saying he knew how much he’d improved. “I didn’t even feel pressure,” explained Arthur. “I made so many improvements after the loss and I knew I was going to win, and win impressively.” Arthur believes he is as tough as they come, “I’m in the fight business to see how good I can get and see If I’m as tough as I think I am.”
The Englishman is delighted that ACB came along, and is looking to show them just how good he can be. “Getting signed by ACB was a great opportunity,” admitted Arthur, “I’ve been blessed to work with some great promotions such as BAMMA, Superior Challenge, and now ACB.”
Arthur admitted he was surprised by the treatment he received in Russia at ACB 41. “I expected Russia to be very hostile, but as soon as I got over there, the promotion couldn’t do enough to help me.” Looking back, Arthur says he enjoyed his first trip to Russia despite the loss, “It was definitely a crazy experience, but one that I loved.”
Arthur says he and ACB fit together perfectly, “A lot of fighters in Russia really come to fight, and I love that.” said Arthur. “I can’t wait to fight on ACB again” admitted the Englishman. “I’m only looking to have real fights,” said Arthur, “I have said from the start I don’t want easy fights” he reiterated. “Petr Yan is a real fighter, that was a real fight,” said Arthur, although he weren’t happy with his own performance, “I don’t feel I performed my best, I was trying to win the contest and not the fight.”
“That’s not like me,” he said, “There’s a big difference between trying to win a contest and trying to win a fight.”
Arthur believes he learnt a lot from that fight and has grown from it. “The biggest thing I learnt from that fight was that if you want to be the best, you can’t just try to win the contest. You have to tap into the hunger in your gut, you have to put that ferocity behind your fighting style.”
“The best guys in the world always go for the kill, I stepped away from that. But I understand how important that is now. I have always understood how important mindset is in a fight, but I’ve taken it to another level now.”
“To win at this level, you have to be ruthless, and I know that now!” exclaimed Arthur.
Watch ACB 47 LIVE and FREE, HERE.
