British heavyweight Mick Parkin has issued a confident warning ahead of his bout at UFC London this weekend.
The 29-year-old faces perennial contender Marcin Tybura on Saturday night at the O2 Arena, a big step up from his previous fights.
His four UFC bouts so far have been against fighters without a ranking next to their name – but his fifth outing will serve as an opportunity to climb into the top 15 and take Tybura’s number eight spot.
Parkin spoke to Combat Sports UK and conceded that it will be a tough fight, but is confident that he gets the victory.
He said: “He’s had 20 or 21 UFC fights, you can’t be bad having that many fights in the UFC, so I’ve watched him quite a lot.
“I wouldn’t say he’s amazing in any one area but he can do everything. He can grapple, which is unusual for a heavyweight, he’s got constant forward pressure, and he’s Polish so they’re always tough anyway.
“I do think I’m better than him but it doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy fight. I can see it being like a three rounder; he can be against the fence, he can be coming forward flinging shots, he’ll be trying to take us down.
“It’ll definitely be a hard fight but I definitely think I’m ready and I think I’m better than him everywhere.”
Mick Parkin Talks Becoming a More Confident Finisher
Heading into UFC 304 last summer, the Sunderland man had not yet got a finish on either Dana White’s Contender Series or on a UFC card.
However, in the second fight of that night in Manchester he got a first round finish over another Pole in Lukas Brzeski.
This saw a return to the finishing form of his pre-UFC days where he stopped every man that stood in his path.
Parkin says the finish of Brzeski was a confidence booster for him and he has continued to work on becoming a better finisher ahead of UFC London.
He said: “Looking back at my earlier fights, I think if I went back in there now [with] the way I’m feeling at the moment I think I’d finish a lot more of them.
“So maybe it was a confidence thing of being in the UFC, I wouldn’t say I was nervous but maybe just the step up in competition I was staying a bit safer and not leaving myself there [to be hurt].
“I’ve just been working on my game to get more finishes and training to get better.”
Mick Parkin Full Exclusive Interview
You can watch the full interview with the Team Fish Tank fighter below:
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Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
