One brave Canadian will make the trip into enemy territory in London, England this weekend, as Manitoba’s Roland Delorme takes on the UK’s Davey Grant in a bantamweight bout at UFC Fight Night 37.
The 30-year-old Delorme, an exciting fighter who first came to prominence on TUF 14, is a quiet 3-1, 1 NC in the UFC, with submission wins over Nick Denis and Josh Ferguson and a decision win over Edwin Figueroa. The loss came via split decision to Alex Caceres at UFC 165 last September in Toronto, while the no-contest was originally a knockout loss to Francisco Rivera that was overturned when Rivera tested positive for a banned substance.
There aren’t a ton of Canadian fighters on the UFC roster currently, and not many have winning records, which is why I’m personally so antsy to see Delorme return this weekend on Fight Pass. I think he’s underrated and doesn’t get the credit he deserves, and hopefully if he goes and picks up a big win over Grant in his opponent’s neck of the woods he starts to get the credit he deserves from both the fans and from UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby, who seems to constantly book Delorme against fighters near the bottom of the ladder.
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Should Delorme improve to 4-1, 1 NC with a win over Grant, Shelby will absolutely have to give him a step up in competition and a higher placement on a card. Conversely if Delorme blows it, he’ll be stuck fighting bottom feeders in loser-leave-town matches on Fight Pass.
I don’t think the UFC would release Delorme if he dropped to 3-2, 1 NC with a loss to Grant, but “Stunning” has to know it’s a possibility he doesn’t make the cut considering how packed the roster is. So I expect him to really do everything he can to get the win, and not leave it in the judges’ hands like he did with his fight against Caceres.
If you’ve been following Delorme’s Twitter feed, he says he feels better than ever and that he’s ready to beat up Grant in front of the Brit’s hometown fans. It’s nice to hear that kind of confidence out of the mouth of Delorme, and it comes as no real surprise; if you’ve been following his career you know he’s an extremely confident – if not cocky – fighter. And that’s exactly the kind of fighter the fans want to see – someone who is brash, exciting and most of all, a winner. And so far in his UFC and MMA career, that’s been Delorme to a T. Only, for whatever reason, the promotion fails to see it and the Canuck keeps getting stuck on the prelims.
I’ll be honest. Coming out of TUF, where he was eliminated from the tournament by a then-unknown TJ Dillashaw, I didn’t expect much from Delorme. But he’s really grown on me, and his comeback rear-naked-choke win over Denis a few years back was one of my favourite submissions in the Octagon ever. And since then, he’s been in nothing but exciting fights. But for whatever reason, he just hasn’t grown on the matchmakers – yet, anyways.
It’s too bad that Delorme is on the Fight Pass prelims this weekend because he really deserves to be seen by a bigger audience, but for the hardcores planning on watching – especially those in Canada – look forward to an exciting, fast-paced bout where both fighters leave it all in the cage. Because it wouldn’t be a Delorme fight if that’s not how it played out.
