UFC London: Jack Shore Embraces ‘Welsh GSP’ Moniker, Wants June Fight

London – The first UFC card in the UK since 2019 was set up as an exciting card on paper. What actually happened on Saturday night was even more spectacular than anything anybody could have expected and it started early in the night with fighters like bantamweight Jack Shore.

Shore (16-0) defeated Timur Valiev via unanimous decision at UFC London at The O2 Arena on Saturday night.

Even though he was fighting at home in front of his home fans the fight itself wasn’t actually as easy as Shore may have hoped. Valiev had him in trouble with a guillotine early in the fight.

“Not as much trouble as he did after being sat down twice. It was close. It was right under my neck it was squeezing a little bit but I knew if I stayed in half guard that I’d be alright. Well I thought that and next thing I knew it started getting tighter and tighter. I could hear the crowd reacting and I just thought ‘Well, there’s no way I’m tapping in front of these large shows. You’re either going to get out or you’re going to sleep’. Next thing I knew my head popped out, but yeah it was close. It was close, but not close enough,” Shore told reporters at his post-fight scrum.

Shore took a bit of time to get going in the fight, but once he was in rhythm the scales seemed to tip his way.

“Little bit slow start. He was unorthodox. I knew coming in it’d take me a little bit longer to get a read on him. He changes angles and his attack up a lot. I could feel him getting tired, I know I’ve got a good engine, and I could hear the corner saying ‘Keep the pressure on’. I could hear him getting tired and I could see him slowing down. Specially during that third round. If I keep the pressure on anyone they’ll start to show cracks. Minus the guillotine,” laughed Shore.

During the broadcast the team in the booth repeatedly referred to Shore as the “Welsh GSP”.

“It’s very high praise. Who else better to be compared to in my eyes than the best to every do it? One of my idols in the sport. If I can achieve a third of what GSP achieved I’ll be be able to retire a happy man. Keep comparing me to the greatest as long as they’d like to. I welcome it with open arms,” Shore said.

With a lot of eyes on this card Shore can see the opportunity to take advantage of the momentum to get back into the cage sooner than later.

“I’d love to get a fight with Assuncao, Ricky Simon, any of those guys. I want to fight in June.”

Watch the full UFC London post-fight press scrum with Jack Shore above. More coverage from the event can be found below.