At the UFC Fighting Night event in London, England yesterday, a group of British players won a remarkable victory. Tom Azpinar, Arnold Allen and Paddy Pimblatt all won their matches in the first leg, and they talked about their favorite opponents in their post-match press conferences.
First up was Tom Azpinar, who defeated Alexander Volkov in the first leg of the night, the first time the Russian had been surrendered since July 2010. After this battle, Azpinar won eight consecutive games and achieved the end of all eight games. He will turn 29 next month and say Five-game winning australian Tawasa is his next ideal opponent.
I couldn't have done better tonight, and I had expected this game to be played over five full legs because Volkov had only been terminated twice in his 45 professional games. Tonight I was able to finish in the first leg and he showed my finishing ability, and my finishing ability is the top. I like KO opponents because I think KO is better than surrendering, but it's better to end an opponent than to play five rounds.
I'm a fan of Tuvassa, which is why I call him. First of all, I like his fighting style, and secondly, I like his personal charm. When he plays, the audience goes crazy, and so does my game, so I look forward to playing him in England and imagining what a frenetic scene it would be. When the UFC hosts an event in the UK next time, I'm going to go to Tuwasa, please be sure to make it happen.
Arnold Allen, for his part, wants to continue to improve his position in the official rankings, beating Dan Hawke at TKO in the first leg of the night to win his ninth straight win since signing for the UFC. His post-match opponent is Calvin Ketta, who is currently ranked 5th in the featherweight.
I always say that the stronger the opponent, the better I will play. Hawke was the best opponent I've ever played against, he was very dangerous, his technique was excellent, and his range was wide. Of course, the game was not easy, I trained very hard, I tried to put all kinds of anxieties behind me, so that I could devote myself to training. I think I've taken this opportunity well and done everything I can. I still think I have a lot of room to grow.
I want a top 5 opponent and Ketal is one of them. The UFC had previously scheduled for us to lead a headline fight late last year and early this year, but I had to give up because of my injury. Ketal is a silent man, just like Hawke, and he and I are both boxing players, so it's going to be a very engaging duel. But I still think I'm a better boxer than he is.
The most popular Paddy Pimblatt's idea of the next opponent was unexpected. Given his physical clashes with Ilya Topria before the game and the online spat two years ago, the showdown between the two was thought to have come to fruition. However, Pimbright said he was not interested in a match against Topria.
Everyone wants to fight with me, and people want to rub my heat. No one knew who Ilya-Topria was until there was a clash with me that brought attention to it. I'm a box office guarantee and everyone wants to play against me.
But I want to praise Topria for tonight's performance, his KO is wonderful, especially when he ate that high sweep in the first leg, it is still difficult to play such a performance. But if I had hit him with that high sweep, he would have been terminated, he was just a 'hand sanitizer kid' to me, and no one would remember who he was afterwards. A male lion never has to care what the sheep think of him.