June was a monumental month for British mixed martial artists battling abroad; with a total of six fighters repping the Union Jack in five different countries this past month, with four of them emerging victorious.
The most significant was UK MMA pioneer Michael Bisping (29-7) stopping UFC Middleweight champion and former conqueror Luke Rockhold (15-3) by first round knockout, in the main event of UFC 199. Not only did ‘The Count’ avenge a previous loss to a heavily favoured and skilled opponent, but he was also successful in his first UFC Middleweight title shot, and on just 14-days notice too.
The emphatic win helped the Mancunian etch his name in the history books as the first Brit to wear UFC gold, and also drew him level with former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre as the winningest competitor in UFC history, with 19 wins. Surely that is enough to earn Bisping a spot on the shortlist for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award, right?
Hours prior to Bisping’s title triumph, uber-prospect Tom Breese (10-1) competed on the UFC Fight Pass Prelims, tasting defeat for the first time in a hotly contested split decision loss to the tricky Sean Strickland (18-1). Both fighters fought tentatively throughout the contest, with Breese content to sit back and counter strike, whilst Strickland pressed forward with relatively little offence. Neither man displayed any flashes of dominance in the evenly matched contest, likely leading to the split verdict.
Two weeks later and a mere week after English hooligans were allegedly given a pasting by their Russian adversaries in the streets of Marseille, Jack McGann (10-2) travelled to Moscow to face-off against of Abdula Dadaev (6-3) at the highly controversial EFN 50: Emelianenko vs. Maldonado event.
Despite being caught in an ostensibly tight guillotine at the fight’s inception, McGann gutted through and quickly turned the tide on his Russian foe, rocking him with an expertly timed knee from the clinch. Although the bout could have easily been stopped after the knee had landed, the referee gave Dadaev every chance to recover, only for McGann to drill him with a further five strikes to seal the deal and sending poor Dadaev into unnecessary unconsciousness.
The win puts McGann back in the win column, after a disappointing loss to Damien Lapilus (12-6-1) last November. The Tom Hardy-endorsed fighter heads into enemy territory for his next bout, as he takes on Paul Redmond (10-6) at BAMMA 23 in Dublin.
Fellow BAMMA 23 competitor Alan Philpott (15-8) was the next Brit to venture abroad, heading over to Japan to compete in the main event of VTJ Osaka, which also aired on the UFC Fight Pass network. Philpott unfortunately wasn’t as successful as McGann, submitting to a rear-naked choke from unbeaten Japanese prospect Daichi Takenaka (10-0-1) three minutes deep into their bantamweight contest.
With the loss, Philpott see’s a two-fight win-streak snapped. Philpott’s next rendezvous is a defence of his BAMMA Lonsdale title against Aaron Blackwell (15-9-1) in September.
The UK’s premiere female mixed martial artist was also in action in June, as Joanne Calderwood (11-1) decimated recent title challenger Valérie Létourneau (8-5) at the UFC’s inaugural show in Ottawa, Canada.
The contest, which served as the UFC’s first ever Women’s Flyweight bout, ended in dramatic fashion in the third round, after Calderwood unleashed with a Tekken-style combo that left Letourneau in a heap on the mat. Although the finish was not deemed sufficient enough to earn an official bonus award, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed post-fight that following the win, Calderwood would receive a bonus, as well as awarding the Scot with a new contract.
Andre Winner (21-10-2) was the final Brit to compete internationally in June, as the Leicester-based lightweight picked up a much needed win this past weekend in Switzerland, edging recent UFC-employee Abner Lloveras (19-8-1) via split decision. The two lightweights met in the main event of Strength and Honour Championship 11.
The victory halts Winner’s two-fight losing skid and maintains his relevancy on the European circuit, Lloveras meanwhile, now finds himself in the midst of a two-fight losing streak of his own.
