Mixed Martial Arts has developed into one of the most exciting sporting spectacles to watch with its explosive knockouts, high-level submissions and a lot of talented fighters to say the least.
And while most current world-class fighters have honed their skills outside of London, there have been four fighters who learnt the sport of MMA in the nation’s capital and has led them to success.
Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett
With one of the best MMA resumes in UK history alone, the ‘One Punch’ Brad Pickett has competed in several organizations all around the world and has been successful in each one.
Born in East London, Pickett would first start training in South London-based MMA gym Elite Fighting System, before turning professional in 2004 and fighting under top UK MMA promotion Cage Rage organization.
In only his fifth pro fight, Pickett was able to win his first MMA championship when he defeated the then Cage Rage Featherweight champion Ozzy Haluk back in 2005. Pickett was able to defend the title twice before losing to Robbie Olivier by submission.
‘One Punch’ would then have his next four fights in four different countries (United States, England, Wales & Costa Rica) and would go undefeated in all of those fights, a positive impact for his career as he was now recognized more globally.
Arguably the best stretch of Pickett’s MMA career was between August 2007 to April 2010, where he would successfully able to win his second championship while fighting for popular East London based promotion UCMMA.
Pickett would go on a nine-fight winning streak, culminating with a victory in the WEC organization over Demetrious Johnson (who holds the record for consecutive title defences in UFC history) being only one of three men to defeat Johnson.
‘One Punch’ would get the chance to fight for top MMA promotions in 2011 but was not successful when he was defeated by former UFC Bantamweight champion Renan Barao.
Overall, the Londoner would fight for the UFC 14 times, with five wins and nine losses, with his last fight of his career (so far) coming in March 2017 over Marlon Vera in his hometown, ending his MMA career with 25 wins and 14 losses.
Nathaniel ‘The Prospect’ Wood
Bantamweight fighter Nathaniel ‘The Prospect’ Wood has been touted as the next big London MMA fighter, with nine of his 14 career wins coming by knockouts.
Wood began training for MMA at the young age of 16 and made his amateur debut at 18, winning his three fights, turned professional at 19 years old and won his first four fights with the Fusion Fighting Championship and Ultimate Challenge MMA organizations.
‘The Prospect’ managed to win his first MMA championship back in 2017 when he managed to defeat Marko Kovacevic in front of his home crowd in the O2 Arena.
He would go on to defend his belt twice, against Josh Reed and Luca Iovine before moving on the UFC.
His highly anticipated debut in the UFC came against 40-year-old Johnny Eduardo, a man who had been fighting professionally since 1996 and had fought seven times previously in the UFC, a tough test for the 25-year-old.
However, Wood would not be fazed as he won by submission in the second round.
This is only the start for ‘The Prospect’ and many fans are excited to see what he does next.
Jimi ‘Poster Boy’ Manuwa
Even though Jimi ‘Poster Boy’ Manuwa was born in California, he was raised in Croydon. At the of 27 years old ‘Poster Boy’ started training for MMA out of Keddles Gym, located in Bromley.
He had a blistering start to his MMA career: winning his first 14 fights from 2008 to 2013, none of them going to a judge’s decision, highlighting his aggressive style of fighting.
Back in 2005 with a record of 5-0, Manuwa would win the UCMMA Light Heavyweight Championship against Ryan Robinson and would defend it successfully five times before deciding to join the BAMMA organization for a single fight.
Manuwa would make his UFC debut on September 2012, dominating Kyle Kingsbury through two rounds.
The 38-year-old has had 10 fights in the UFC with a six-win, four-loss record with defeats to fighters such as Anthony Johnson, Alexander Gustafsson & Volkan Oezdemir: all three who have competed for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title at one point.
Currently, Manuwa is ranked 7th in the Light Heavyweight rankings of the UFC and has a 17-win four-loss record with 15 of his wins coming by KO’s/TKO’s.
Manuwa’s next fight coming up is against the Brazilian Thiago Santos at UFC 231 on December 8, 2018.
Michael ‘Venom’ Page
Current undefeated Welterweight fighter Michael ‘Venom’ Page has always been a charismatic and confident fighter from his debut fight in 2012 all the way up to his last bout against David Rickels in May 2018.
The Westminster-born fighter began training for MMA in 2011 at the London Shootfighters gym after previously competing in kickboxing.
In Page’s first professional fight against Ben Dishman for the UCMMA organization, he finished the fight in exciting fashion, knocking Dishman out via ‘tornado kick’ with just over a minute gone into the bout, a move that would receive some buzz on social media.
In 2012, Page would sign fight contracts with two different companies: popular MMA promotion Bellator and Super Fight League.
The Londoner has fought nine times with Bellator with his first fight for the organization coming up against Ryan Sanders, winning in 10 seconds as he knocked him out.
The 31-year-old’s official MMA record stands at 14 wins and zero losses with his next fight coming up against fellow Englishman Paul Daley in the Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix Tournament for a chance at his first MMA championship.