UFC London has been hailed as a landmark event for British MMA, but according to one of the brightest stars of the night, it didn’t feature the best current British MMA fighter.
Arnold Allen is currently a top-ranked featherweight and at UFC London he put on the best performance of his career, stopping Dan Hooker in just 2 minutes and 33 seconds. Allen wasn’t the only British fighter at UFC London. Tom Aspinall and Paddy Pimblett, Molly McCann (Paul Craig), Jack Shore, Muhammad Mokaev, Jack Shore, Jack Shore, Jack Shore, Paul Craig and Molly McCann all won impressive victories. Aspinall was particularly well-known for his first round submission of Alexander Volkov. Despite the great performances and the fact that Allen said that Allen was not the greatest British MMA fighter, Allen stated that he wasn’t competing on that night.
“No. Aspinall stated on The MMA Hour . “I think Leon Edwards’ the best.” He’s the best, having sparred with him. This man is a completely different kind of guy. He sparred with me for quite a while. He helped me a lot with advice for the fight and stuff like that. For me, he’s the No. 1 guy.”
Allen is not alone in his assessment. Allen and Aspinall currently share the No. 6 spot in the UFC’s divisional rankings, Edwards is the No. 3 ranked welterweight. Similarly, the MMA Fighting Global Rankings currently have Edwards as the No. 3-ranked welterweight in the world, while Allen and Aspinall sit outside their divisions’ respective top fives.
For his part, Edwards was happy with the compliment, thanking Allen on Twitter, and promoting the new era of British MMA.
Thank you brother @Arnoldbfa British mma on the rise https://t.co/oyF5bke06J
— Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards (@Leon_edwardsmma) March 21, 2022
Edwards is believed to be next up for a title shot against current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Should the fight go forward as anticipated, he would be the first British fighter to challenge for a UFC belt since Michael Bisping won the middleweight title at UFC 199.
