Brighton lad about to hit the big time in the UFC

[Fatboy Quim]

UFC: John Hathaway gets Diego Sanchez in LV on May 29 Telegraph Blogs

John Hathaway up against Diego Sanchez. That is an enormous fight for this local lad. Maybe a step too far but if he were to win he would have seriously hit the big time.

Can't wait for this one. Anyone know him / anything about him - is he an Albion fan??

 

[D'Angelo Saxon]

He's a mate of my Brother's actually. Will ask him a little more when I see him tonight.

 

[METALMICKY]

He's a mate of my Brother's actually. Will ask him a little more when I see him tonight.

Get in there! And whilst you are at see if you could tap him up for any future UFC events at the O2 Arena. There are a few UFC fans on here and i'm sure most would agree that the ticket prices are crazy even for a view right at the back.

Good time to be fighting Sanchez as his last defeat took a lot out of him. Good luck to Jon abd even more luck to Dan Harding who i fear is going to take a beating against GSP

 

[sam86]

Get in there! And whilst you are at see if you could tap him up for any future UFC events at the O2 Arena. There are a few UFC fans on here and i'm sure most would agree that the ticket prices are crazy even for a view right at the back.

Good time to be fighting Sanchez as his last defeat took a lot out of him. Good luck to Jon abd even more luck to Dan Harding who i fear is going to take a beating against GSP

Is he Adam's brother?

 

[METALMICKY]

Ooops Hardy of course. Come to think of it the idea of GSP ground & pound on our old defender sounds sweet to me

 

[Fatboy Quim]

HAHAHA!! i would love to see Dan Harding against George St Pierre!! How about Leon Knight against Wanderlei Silva too, i wouldn't care about the overpriced tickets for that one!

Any news on Hathaway is he an albion fan?? I bloody hope so, that would elevate him pretty quickly to becoming my favourite fighter

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

I was over in Dublin when Hathaway made his UFC debut, being a Brighton lad we cheered him on while surrounded by Dubliners cheering on his opponent, some good natured banter was had. One of my mates bumped into him afterwards and John was very happy with his performance although his brother nearly got into a fight for cheering him on.

Sanchez is a huge match up for him and a massive step up as Sanchez is a top 5 fighter but after the beating he took from BJ there is no better time to be fighting him.

 

[One Legged Striker]

Really nice person to talk to, used to train at Zt Fight Skhool, when i fist saw him fight in local practice fights, if you ever get the chance you should go and watch them train, it is an art like no other.

 

[Pump House Regular]

A car full of us Travelled to Germany to UFC 100? Suprisingly he lives up Dyke Road in possibly the nicest house up there!

 

[Fatboy Quim]

AWESOME!!!!

Well done to the local lad. What an amazing performance tonight. Surely the big names and big money are what he'll be getting from now.

Any news on whether he's an albion fan yet??

 

[D'Angelo Saxon]

Big things! I'll ask my brother whether he's an albion fan...

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Welterweight John Hathaway may not be the flashiest or most brash fighter to emerge from the United Kingdom, but the British prospect may eventually turn out to be the best if his form in shutting out perennial contender Diego Sanchez over three rounds holds true in the coming years.

The unanimous decision read 30-27 twice and 30-26 for Hathaway, who improves to 14-0. Sanchez, who was returning to the welterweight division after a 2-1 run at lightweight in 2009 that ended in a TKO loss to then-champion BJ Penn last December, falls to 23-4.

Hathaway showed no jitters in the bright lights of Las Vegas, as he stuffed Sanchez’ initial takedown attempt, muscled him around on the inside, and bloodied his nose with his striking. The real damage came with under three minutes left when he times a shot by Sanchez with a right knee to the head that knocked the New Mexico native down and almost out. Hathaway moved in for the finish, and while he landed with a series of hard shots, Sanchez was able to eventually clear his head. That didn’t stop Hathaway’s attack though, and he continued to fire away until the bell.

There was no let up to Hathaway’s offensive assault in round two, and his accurate shots from long range continued to pepper Sanchez’ face. Needless to say, Sanchez refused to wilt, and after getting a few of his own strikes in, he was able to score his first takedown with a little over three minutes left. Hathaway didn’t stay there long though, and his height and reach advantage continued to give Sanchez fits in the standup game, especially when he threw (and landed) his right hand.

Sanchez was again befuddled by Hathaway’s attack in the final round, as he repeatedly got clipped with straight punches while seeing his takedown attempts come up empty. With 1:40 left, Sanchez got stunned briefly by another flush right hand, and 30 seconds later a high kick had the same effect, sealing a brilliant performance by the 22-year old from Brighton.

 

[Fatboy Quim]

fighting again right now.

Sounded good to hear "fighting out of BRIGHTON, SUSSEX ,ENGLAND...."

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Got turned over by an old pro. UFC 120 currently pretty poor and glad I did not pay to watch this one. Hopefully it will pick up shortly....

 

[Dowling93]

Dan Hardy is usually exciting so it should pick up, his entrance music is a good song aswell

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Hardy was certainly exciting as he was knocked out! Hopefully Bisping can recover this for the UK because its pretty embarassing at the O2 at the moment!

 

[Fatboy Quim]

agree with that. come on Bisping!!

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Bisping was good, Akiyama was unlucky, especially with that horrendous kick to the bollocks that he took!

That was a pretty poor UFC to be honest, glad it was free on ESPN - not sure that Dana White deserves my money for putting it on. It's all going a bit "WWE" at the moment - silly announcers, over hyped matches, more pantomime than performance.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

I was there at the O2 yesterday for the show. The undercard was a lot better than the main show. James Mcsweeny was winning his fight until he took a horrible looking body shot, in the 2nd round, that may well have broken a rib or two, he just didn't have anything after that and was pounded out in the 3rd.

Kurt Warburton was unlucky in his UFC debut against Spencer Fisher who is a top level fighter, I had Warburton winning 29-28 but the judges had it 29-28 to Fisher. It was a competitive fight though, would have been my fight of the night.

Paul Sass was great in his debut securing a good submission win over Mark Holst. Rob Broughton looked in trouble early against De Quieroz but came back well to win in the 3rd.

The other fight one the undercard was Alexander Gustafsson against Cyrille Diabate which was a competitive couple of rounds until Gustafsson went looking for a sub in the second and locked in a great rear naked choke.

The main card was very disapointing though. Wilkes vs Patrick and Kongo vs Browne were fairly boring fights with lots of stalling on the ground. Pyle dominated Hathaway who looked completly out of sorts and not the same guy who totally took apart a world class fighter in Diego Sanchez last time out. Hardy got knocked the f*** out by Condit but Condit is a cracking fighter and Hardy can come back stronger from this loss just like Bisping did after his loss to Henderson.

Bisping was cracking through, boxing clever, staying on the outside a lot, looking for some takedowns and putting on an all round intelligent display against a tricky fighter. Bisping looks a totally different fighter now from the one who got beaten by Dan Henderson, he certainly saved the day for the Brits on the main card.