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Check out the best photos from Mick Parkin’s unanimous decision win over Jamal Pogues at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Mick Parkin[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Jamal Pogues[/autotag] at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London. (Photos by Per Haljestam, USA TODAY Sports)
Mick Parkin has been itching to get back to work for a while. Saturday, he gets to do it on the biggest stage in front of his home fans.
LONDON – [autotag]Mick Parkin[/autotag] doesn’t automatically have to be a fan of The Beatles just because he’s from England, but he did perhaps inadvertently channel them.
Parkin borrowed from the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” song “Getting Better” on Thursday and said his training with UFC Fight Night 224 headliner Tom Aspinall has him “getting better all the time.” He’s has been itching to get back to work for a while. Saturday, he gets to do it on the biggest stage in the world in front of his home fans.
Parkin (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), an English heavyweight, will make his promotional debut Saturday on the ESPN+ prelims at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London against Jamal Pogues (10-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC).
Parkin, like Pogues, came off Dana White’s Contender Series. But rather than get his first UFC fight in March at UFC 286, he had to wait until now to do it in London thanks to an injury recovery. But now he thinks the timing is perfect – and he got to peak with Aspinall.
“I train pretty hard, nonstop, outside of fight camp,” Parkin said at Thursday’s media day in London. “I still train pretty much the same. I mainly just spar harder in a fight camp. But training with the likes of Tom, I’m just getting better all the time. I’ve got like five or six heavyweights who are really high level who are pushing us all the time. All it’s done, is the time off just got us better.”
Check out Parkin’s full UFC Fight Night 224 media day interview in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from April 24-30.
With the UFC looking to host another big card in England in the near future, Mick Parkin wants to be part of it.
LAS VEGAS – With the UFC looking to host another big card in England in the near future, [autotag]Mick Parkin[/autotag] wants to be part of it.
Parkin (6-0) is the newest English fighter to get signed to the UFC, punching his ticket through Dana White’s Contender Series 51 on Tuesday. In the featured bout of the night, Parkin quickly submitted Eduardo Neves in the first round.
Parkin experienced the buzz and atmosphere while attending the UFC’s two London shows this year and now that he has an opportunity to be a part of one, he hopes to land on the Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman trilogy event, which is being considered for the U.K.
“European card would be great,” Parkin told reporters, including MMA Junkie. “Obviously fight in front of fans, like a big arena, something like that would be great.”
He continued, “That would be crazy. My friend rang me now and was like, ‘England card. Definitely get on it.’ So that would be crazy, because I’ve actually been to the last two events at the O2 to watch my friends Paul (Craig) and Tom (Aspinall) fight, so the atmosphere is absolutely amazing. I remember the first one watching it, all the guys got finishes, and I remember thinking this is going to be me. It’s amazing.”
With Edwards becoming the second English fighter to win UFC gold, U.K. MMA is booming. Teammate and fellow Brit Tom Aspinall has had a fast rise up the heavyweight ranks, and Parkin sees a similar future for himself.
“U.K. MMA is doing mint now, and I’m fortunate that there’s not many heavyweights,” Parkin said. “So it’s probably a little bit easier path for me than some of these lighter guys.”
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MMA Junkie is on scene and reporting live from Tuesday’s Dana White’s Contender Series 51 event.
MMA Junkie is on scene and reporting live from Tuesday’s Dana White’s Contender Series 51 event.
Dana White’s Contender Series cards see prospects fighting for the opportunity to sign a UFC deal, with UFC president Dana White on hand to make the decisions.
The fifth week of the sixth season sees 10 fighters compete for their shot at a UFC contract. This week, heavyweights are in the featured bout as [autotag]Mick Parkin[/autotag] (5-0) takes on [autotag]Eduardo Neves[/autotag] (5-0).
The UFC Apex hosts Tuesday’s card, which streams live on ESPN+. The full results of Dana White’s Contender Series 50 include:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
Continue reading below for more details about each fight.
