Photo by Scott Heavey/Zuffa LLC

The greatest fighter in the history of the UFC and long time middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva is finally returning to the United Kingdom. This will be his first fight on British soil since the 2006 reverse elbow knockout of Tony Fryklund which earned him his shot in the UFC to begin with. Silva's opponent is Michael Bisping: the man whom many thought for years had the style to give Silva a run for his money, but who would always fall at the last hurdle before he could be granted a crack at the middleweight champion. While Silva has lost a step and Bisping has too, a victory for Bisping would go a long way towards validating the potential that many always saw in Bisping. The potential to be Britain's first UFC champion.

It seems strange that Great Britain has never produced a champion in the major leagues of mixed martial arts. This was the island on which bareknuckle pugilism was elevated to a science under champions like James Figg and Daniel Mendoza. The home of the most influential wrestling gym in the world, Wigan's Snake Pit. The current base of operations for grappling legends Roger Gracie and the Estima brothers. And yet the closest we have come to a UFC title was Dan Hardy's rushed crack at Georges St. Pierre. Make no mistake, Hardy had as much potential as any fighter the UK has ever produced, but no fighter goes from fighting Marcus Davis and Mike Swick to stopping the takedowns of Georges St. Pierre.

There have been a few British fighters who could have evolved into world champions. Ross Pearson has some of the best boxing ever to grace MMA. Paul Daley always had a thunderous left hook which could knock any man at welterweight stiff and had the time to better his wrestling against the best in the world, but a sucker punch following his 2010 loss to Josh Koscheck saw him exiled to lesser promotions for life. Brad Pickett is responsible for one of only two losses on flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson's record, unfortunately Pickett has gone 2-5 in his last seven bouts.

But the future is still bright, there are up and comers. Among them is the hot prospect fighting on the Silva versus Bisping card. The young Brummy, Tom Breese. Off of the back of the most recent Ireland card, all you could hear was Breese's praise being sung. You will recall that card was cursed—booked with limited star power like most UFC events in Europe, injuries tore the card apart until Paddy Holohan and Louis Smolka were headlining. Breese's destruction of top twenty welterweight and former Cage Warriors champion, Cathal Pendred was the talk of the Internet for the days after the event.

Breese fought the entirety of his pre-UFC career in England, and most of it under an event called BAMMA. A strong grappler and tall for his class, the 6'3” welterweight wound up visiting Tristar as Georges St. Pierre was training for Carlos Condit. Moving to Tristar Gym full time has done wonders for Breese's game as his boxing especially has come on in leaps and bounds. Breese was always a finisher but it was predominantly with submissions, in his two UFC bouts he has gotten the better of his opponents on the feet.

In his UFC debut against Luiz Dutra, Breese controlled the pace nicely and landed his usual gut munching knees in the clinch. It is always interesting to see a tall man like Breese or Jon Jones actively seek the clinch.

That left knee strike of Breese's has been a staple throughout his career. His only professional knockout pre-Tristar came over the woefully undersized Mark Tucker and came off of a beautiful far leg sweep into a straight knee to the gut as Tucker fought to recover his balance. This is the kind of stuff that Alistair Overeem is using at his absolute best.

Returning to Dutra, Breese used heavy low kicks to punish the wide swings of the Brazilian, buckling his knee inwards.

In the final seconds of the first round, Breese glided in on an instant and decked Dutra with a straight left hand.

When the bout with Pendred came, Breese utilized his range superbly. Pendred has always been known for his tendency to simply drop his head and charge to close the distance, and Breese exploited this beautifully, giving ground and uncorking the counter left straight. Walking Pendred to the fence each time and then darting back to counter with the left hand when Pendred lashed out, Breese looked not unlike Pendred's team mate Conor McGregor.

But it wasn't all on the counter. The shot which busted Pendred's nose open was a surprisingly quick lead left straight.

Throughout the bout Breese also slung out a few snap kicks with the ball of the foot to the midsection. The same kick which Rory MacDonald bothered B.J. Penn and Robbie Lawler with so much. Each appeared to bother Pendred but he could not adapt to deal with them, entering low through the front of his guard. The third attempt at this kick winded Pendred and it was then that Breese was able to step in, doubling up on the left straight to floor Pendred for the finish.

To champion Tom Breese as the future of the welterweight title might be putting the cart before the horse a little but he is truly a talent to sit up and pay attention to. With his one hundred percent finishing rate in professional mixed martial arts he shouldn't be a hard sell to the general public either. With so much room for room for disappointment in the main event between Silva and Bisping, and the reliably hit-and-miss Gegard Mousasi in the co-main event, Tom Breese might be the man to steal this card.

Pick up Jack's new kindle book, Finding the Art, or find him at his blog, Fights Gone By.

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