THE CANADIAN PRESS
The UFC has fleshed out the undercard for UFC 105 in Manchester, with English fighters Terry Etim, Paul (Relentless) Taylor, John (The Hitman) Hathaway, Nick (Slick) Osipczak and Andre Winner all featured at the MEN Arena on Nov. 14.
Randy (The Natural) Couture takes on Brandon (The Truth) Vera in a light-heavyweight main event, with Canadian middleweight Denis Kang facing local favourite Michael Bisping in the co-main event.
Etim (13-2) faces lightweight Shannon Gugerty, looking to make it four wins in a row in the UFC. Etim’s streak was almost snapped last time out when he was floored in the first round by Justin Buchholz at UFC 99. But the lanky Brit survived a broken nose to submit Buchholz via D’Arce choke midway through the second round.
Just 23, the former painter-decorator has already fought six times — with four wins — in the UFC.
Gugerty (12-3 including 1-2 in the UFC) is coming off a win over Matt Grice at UFC 100.
Taylor (10-4-1 with one no contest) takes on Hathaway (12-0) in an all-English welterweight affair. Taylor is 3-3 in the UFC but has won fight of the night bonuses in all three of his losses (Chris Lytle at UFC 89, Paul Kelly at UFC 80, and Marcus Davis at UFC 75).
His most recent outing was a somewhat subdued win over a game Peter Sobotta at UFC 99.
Just 22, Hathaway is a tall 170-pounder who scored a unanimous decision over Rick (The Horror) Story at UFC 99. Story went on to win fight of the night honours at UFC 103 when he submitted Brian Foster.
Osipczak was a member of the British team on Season 9 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” He faces American welterweight Matthew Riddle (3-0), a Season 7 graduate of the reality TV show.
Winner, who lost to Ross Pearson in the Season 9 lightweight final, meets Rolando (The Crazy Cuban) Delgado from Season 8.
Swedish light-heavyweight Alexander (The Mauler) Gustafsson (8-0) tackles American Jared Hamman (10-1) in a matchup of UFC newcomers.
The rest of the main card features English welterweight Dan (The Outlaw) Hardy against Mike (Quick) Swick and TUF 9 winners Pearson and welterweight James Wilks against Aaron Riley and Matt (The Immortal) Brown, respectively.
The Hardy-Swick winner probably jumps to the top of the 170-pound contenders’ line, with Canadian champion Georges St. Pierre awaiting.
“I like Mike, he’s a top bloke. We did a PR tour of Germany together earlier in the year and we got on very well,” Hardy told www.ufc.com.
“And I am sorry Mike, but I’m still going to deliver one hell of a beating at UFC 105, the kind of beating which will be very uncomfortable viewing for every other welterweight in the UFC. Mike’s been around for longer than I have in the UFC, but his best win is over Marcus Davis, like with me, but even though he got a unanimous decision I feel I beat Marcus worse than he did.”
