At a press conference today in London, England, the UFC announced the debut of Manchester’s Mike Grundy.
Grundy, 31, is set to face his fellow Englishman, Nad Narimani, at UFC Fight Night 147 at The O2 Arena on Saturday, March 16.
Darren Till, the former UFC title challenger, will headline the event. Till is a friend and training partner of Grundy’s, and the Liverpool native has long campaigned to get Grundy into the UFC.
In March of 2018, Grundy’s name was also mentioned in the same breath as UFC London. An injury to Alex Reyes left Nasrat Haqparast without an opponent, and Grundy was one of the contenders in the running to replace Reyes.
Despite owning an 11-1 record including wins in BAMMA, Shooto, and ACB; an eight-fight winning streak, and a decorated career as a freestyle wrestler (including a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games), Grundy was passed over for the UFC shot.
In his place, however, stepped Narimani. The fight eventually fizzled and was removed from the card, but Narimani has been in the UFC ever since, picking up wins over Khalid Taha and Anderson dos Santos.
Now, ironically, Grundy will face the man who may very well have taken his initial chance UFC debut. He will enter the UFC as an experienced veteran riding an eight-fight winning streak, though he has yet to compete since November of 2017.
UFC Fight Night 147 takes place in London, England, on Saturday, March 16. The early prelims will be on
With the addition of Grundy vs. Naramani, the card now includes:
- Darren Till vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Leon Edwards vs. Gunnar Nelson
- Jack Marshman vs. John Phillips
- Claudio Silva vs. Danny Roberts
- Molly McCann vs. Priscila Cachoeira
- Gokhan Saki vs. Saparbek Safarov
- Volkan Oezdemir vs. Dominick Reyes
- Tom Breese vs. Cezar Ferreira
- Nathaniel Wood vs. Jose Quinonez
- Mike Grundy vs. Nad Naramani
