Two unranked heavyweights, Mick Parkin and Łukasz Brzeski, faced off on the UFC 304 prelims in Manchester, England.
Parkin is a local boy, England’s other heavyweight hopeful after Tom Aspinall. Though he came into the fight without the finishing prowess of the heavyweight champ, he had a 9-0 record including three wins in the UFC. Giving him a slow build seemed to be the play as his opponent, Brzeski from Poland, was only 1-3 in the promotion.
Early on Brzeski looked to land power shots on an oncoming Parkin, with some success. However, Parkin kept coming forward with constant aggression and a more economical fighting style. His improved accuracy made up for his lack of power, rocking the defensively lax Polack on multiple occasions. The third time was the worst, and Łukasz could not recover quickly. On Bambi-legs, he stumbled backwards from the 1-2 that hurt him and ate a flurry which put him down and out.
With his first finish in the UFC in front of his home crowd, Mick Parkin proved that his undefeated record is not just a number. In his post-fight interview, with his thick Northern accent, he riled up the crowd more by talking about how amazing it was to fight and win in front of this crowd.
Official Result: Mick Parkin def. Łukasz Brzeski by Knockout (punches) Round 1, 3:23
