MANCHESTER — Ever since Jimi (Poster Boy) Manuwa began his path of destruction on the British fight scene, which included winning the UCMMA championship and defending it a record five times, fans have clamoured to see him fight with the sport’s premier promotion.
Manuwa made his UFC debut last September where he dominated Kyle Kingsbury before doing the same to French Muay Thai specialist Cyrille Diabate. On Saturday night, England’s Manuwa faces Canadian Ryan Jimmo on the main card of UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Munoz on his quest to remain unbeaten as a pro.
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Jimmo’s career draws a lot of parallels to Manuwa’s. Like Manuwa, Jimmo has built himself up by beating the best in his home country. He famously beat 16 fighters in a row in Canada before signing with the UFC, and after his signing he repaid the UFC with a seven-second knockout of Australian grappler Anthony Perosh in Calgary at UFC 149. However, it hasn’t been all good for Jimmo. On his first excursion outside Canada, he faced James Te-Huna in London and was on the wrong end of a judges’ decision.
He rebounded in his latest fight against Igor Pokrajac at UFC 161 in Winnipeg — one more win in his home country.
Prior to his MFC championship reign, when Jimmo was just 6-1, he flew down to Las Vegas to compete to be on The Ultimate Fighter 8. Jimmo was matched against former collegiate wrestler Antwain Britt. After a back-and-forth fight Jimmo was left on the wrong side of the scorecard. After investing so much time concentrating his efforts into becoming a UFC fighter, it was an anticlimax for Jimmo, who was left with no option but to return to his homeland and rebuild his tarnished reputation.
The 33-year-old Manuwa, a West Ham football club fanatic, came to MMA from a troubled past — he was imprisoned for robbery in 2003. Manuwa, at the time, was running with a crowd of thugs who just wanted to “make money and have stuff without working for it.” In addition to robbery and burglary, his penchant for getting into scuffles got him banned from local nightclubs. For his part, he does feel remorseful for the effect that his behaviour had on his family.
Following a weightlifting injury in 2007, Manuwa turned to MMA as a way to both rehabilitate his injured chest and alleviate his anger. Since then, Manuwa has won 13 straight fights, and from fight to fight his evolution as a mixed martial artist has been outstanding. In the early days of his cage-fighting career, Manuwa depended on his brute strength and power to knock out his opponents, but now he uses a refined approach including footwork and technical striking to render his opponents unconscious.
When I asked Manuwa if he knew about Jimmo’s inability thus far to score a victory off of his home soil he lit up. “I didn’t know that,” Manuwa said clearly smiling. I then asked if he thought that the fact that Jimmo has never won abroad put more pressure on the Canadian. He gleamed and said “no comment.”
Skills wise, Jimmo is known for his striking prowess, a trait he shares with his forthcoming foe. In 18 career victories, close to half came from his fistic fury. Grappling wise, Jimmo is ever improving. His time with Mike Van Arsdale, a two time Olympic wrestling alternate, is sure to have benefited Jimmo and as with all British fighters defensive wrestling seems to be a weakness, so Jimmo will almost certainly look to test Manuwa’s wrestling pedigree.
Manuwa, like Jimmo, has a penchant for scoring brutal knock outs. In 13 bouts, Manuwa has finished 13 foes including 12 as a direct result of his concussive force. Manuwa, a student of Muay Thai has used an array of strikes including his infamous leg kicks and knees. In his camp for Jimmo, Manuwa had a fellow Muay Thai stylist come to visit for a few days. Perhaps the greatest striker in MMA history came to visit for a few days, as Anderson Silva made Manuwa’s gym the first port of call for his latest U.K. trip and a training partner of Anderson’s calibre will be sure to have brought the best out of Manuwa.
“On paper it’s a good match,” Manuwa said. “[Jimmo’s] a striker, I’m a striker. He’s more of a boring striker than me, so we’ll see what happens on the night, but on paper it’s a good matchup.”
Jimmo vs. Manuwa has all the makings of a Fight of the Night and it would be very surprising to see the judges be needed for this bout.
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