THE CANADIAN PRESS
MANCHESTER — Paul (Relentless) Taylor has a history of exciting fights. John (The Hitman) Hathaway has won all 12 of his outings.
Despite the promise of such sizzle, their welterweight matchup Saturday on the undercard of UFC 105 at the M.E.N. Arena has largely flown under the radar, other than it is a rare all-English meeting in the Octagon.
Other main card English fighters such as Dan (The Outlaw) Hardy, Michael (The Count) Bisping, James (Lightning) Wilks and Ross (The Real Deal) Pearson have grabbed the headlines.
Pearson, for one, is looking forward to Taylor-Hathaway.
"Not many people have spoken about it to be honest with you but it’s going to be an exciting fight," he predicted. "Paul brings it every time he fights. I love watching that guy fight, he’s a 100 miles an hour all the time. He’s got great standup skills and obviously he’s learning the ground and wrestling as well.
"Hathaway’s a talent, you know…. He’s a very skilful, slick fighter," he added. "It’s a hard one to call, you know."
Taylor (10-4-1) is 3-3 in the UFC and has shared the fight of the night bonus in each of his losses (Marcus Davis, Paul Kelly, and Chris Lytle). A prickly standup fighter with a buzzsaw barrage of punches and kicks, Taylor is coming off a decision over Peter Sobotta at UFC 99.
Hathaway (12-0) is a long, lean fighter with a good ground game. He manhandled an overmatched Tom Egan at UFC 93 and won a decision over tough American Rick (The Horror) Story at UFC 99 in a fight where the six-foot-two Brit surprised many by taking down the former NAIA championship wrestling runner-up in the first round.
While both men won their last fights, neither was satisfied by their showing.
Taylor was frustrated by Sobotta’s negative tactics.
"He didn’t want to fight." he complained of the UFC newcomer. "Once he realized he wasn’t going to get the better of me with his wrestling and ground game, it was as if he was anti-fight. He just wanted to get the fight to the end of the rounds and get out with as little damage as possible, whereas I like to stand in front of somebody and lay it all on the line and let’s see who’s the best.
"To me, running around the Octagon for 15 minutes isn’t really showcasing what you’re about. I’d rather come out and lose a fight, knowing that I’ve gone at it to the best of my ability rather than skirt around the issue of what you’re there for."
Taylor showed that frustration at the final bell, burying a knee in the German’s belly.
Hathaway believes he should have finished Story, especially considering he mounted him twice in the first round.
"Normally I finish a lot of people from mount, it’s a really good position for me," he said.
But Story managed to escape both times.
The strategy in this fight seems simple. Taylor wants to stay on his feet and fire kicks and punches. Hathaway will look to get the six-foot Taylor in a clinch and take him down.
"Obviously every fight starts standing so I’ll stand with him, I’ll do what I need to do standing and then hopefully I’ll end up putting him down in a good way and basically finish him off on the ground," said Hathaway.
The striker versus grappler matchup may make for a cagey fight.
"Sometimes a clash of styles leads to a less entertaining fight in terms of the crowd," warned Taylor, who prefers an old-fashioned Pier 6 brawl.
Taylor did not get that from Sobotta but says he still managed to draw some positives from the win.
"I got to show people I have improved my wrestling, I have improved my ground game. I mean he came to the Octagon with an impressive array of ground and wrestling credentials and so it’s given me a lot of confidence in myself knowing I have improved in those areas which were my weak points… My longevity in the UFC depends on me being able to deal with the wrestlers and the grappler, so I think it’s a good benchmark for me."
Hathaway likes the matchup because Taylor is ranked higher than he is, so a win would be all the more valuable.
"I think Paul’s a great fighter. Obviously his standup is where he shines the most but as every fighter does they work on their weaknesses, which for him would be his takedown defence and his jiu-jitsu game. He shows an improvement every time he comes (out)."
