English MMA enjoyed an awesome night on the UFC 99 undercard, claiming four victories out of four in Cologne.
John Hathaway and Paul Kelly both snatched tight decision wins over Rick Story and Rolando Delgado respectively, whilst Paul Taylor and Terry Etim delivered completely opposite but equalling outstanding displays against Peter Sobotta and Justin Buchholz.
Taylor gave an exhibition in kickboxing as he took apart local boy Sobotta, smashing his opponent with leg kicks and head kicks as he dominated from start to finish for a unanimous decision victory.
The Birmingham-born fighter’s work with Xtreme Couture had clearly paid off as he stuffed a host of takedowns, and the only thing missing was the knock-out his work deserved.
Etim meanwhile, had to escape the jaws of defeat against Justin Buchholz to claim victory via darce choke.
Buchholz had the Liverpudlian in all sorts of trouble with a big right that dropped Etim, who then ate a flurry of heavy bombs as the ref began to step in.
However, an armbar attempt and then some good Jiu-Jitsu saved Etim, who then regained his composure to snap out those trademark leg kicks and re-establish himself in the fight.
Buchholz came forward in the second but all he succeeded in doing was walking into a plethora of Muay Thai knees, before Etim sunk on the darce choke for a huge victory.
Earlier in the night, Paul Kelly took the slimmest of decisions against Rolando Delgado, who twice took the Liverpudlian’s back and seriously threatened a rear naked choke finish.
Kelly’s resistance was admirable, but if this had been a Jiu-Jitsu contest he would have lost badly.
Fortunately for the Wolf’s Lair fighter, he dominated the final seven minutes of the fight – pounding away from top position to take a unanimous decision.
Things were just as tight for John Hathaway, who mixed it for three rounds with Story before taking a split decision.