The UFC’s heavyweight division is always in need of fresh contenders closer to age 30, as opposed to approaching 40. England’s Mick Parkin has established himself as part of that new wave of talent, however, the 29-year-old suffered his first professional setback Saturday at The O2 Arena in London, England.
Parkin was on the wrong side of a close three-round decision to Marcin Tybura in a featured preliminary bout at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Brady.
Both men had their moments in a back-and-forth bout that clearly saw Parkin win Round 2 and Tybura take Round 3. Parkin’s corner told their fighter following a close Round 1 they believed he had done enough to win the opening five minutes, yet when all was said and done, all three judges awarded both the round and the fight to Tybura, a 22-fight UFC veteran.
Parkin, 29 years old and a training partner of interim champ Tom Aspinall, is now 10-1 and will return to the drawing board. Despite the discrepancy in experience and strength of schedule, Parkin closed as the betting favourite.
Tybura has won three of his past four and should maintain his spot as the No. 8-ranked heavyweight contender. The 39-year-old from Poland has been on the UFC roster for nine years and, since 2020, holds a 10-3 record.
While Parkin was unable to maintain his perfect professional record, his countryman Lone'er Kavanagh did. Kavanagh won a unanimous decision over Felipe dos Santos in a fast-paced flyweight scrap. The 25-year-old is now 9-0 as a pro and 2-0 in the UFC.
Shauna Bannon pulled off what will likely be considered one of the best comebacks of 2025 with her second-round submission of Puja Tomar.
The 31-year-old from Dublin was down on the scorecards and nearly knocked out when Tomar landed a head kick that sent Bannon to the canvas midway through Round 2 of this strawweight bout.
Bannon was given some leeway by the referee, and the fight continued. Tomar could not manage to get the finish with ground strikes, and she then found herself locked in a Bannon armbar. After some adjustments, Bannon cinched it up, and Tomar tapped out to halt the Indian’s four-fight winning streak. Bannon has now won two in a row.
The preliminary card began with Kaue Fernandes upsetting Guram Kutateladze in lightweight action.
Fernandes was able to keep the fight standing with his takedown defence, out-struck Kutateladze and knocked him off balance with a head kick in the opening round. The Brazilian chopped down his Georgian opponent to the ground with a low leg kick early in the second and maintained control of the 155-pound contest.
Kutateladze has been regarded as one of the top lightweight fighters in the sport, skill-wise, even defeating Mateusz Gamrot in 2020 in his UFC debut. However, the 33-year-old has now lost three out of his past four fights in the organization.
Fernandes, 30, earned a clean sweep of the scorecards. The Brazilian has now won two in a row after losing his debut via split decision to Marc Diakiese in 2023.
Kutateladze’s countryman Illia Topuria and his friend and training partner Khamzat Chimaev were both in attendance in London to show him support.
England’s Nathan Fletcher and Ireland’s Caolan Loughran went the distance in a rematch 6.5 years in the making, with Loughran getting his hand raised following a split decision.
Loughran avenged a previous decision loss to Fletcher when the pair met in an amateur bout in Belfast back in 2018. The 28-year-old former Cage Warriors bantamweight champ has alternated wins and losses in his four UFC contests to date.
Fletcher, 27, was a competitor on season 32 of The Ultimate Fighter last year. He was eliminated from that tournament by eventual finalist Kaan Olfi, but Fletcher later won his UFC debut with an arm-triangle submission of fellow TUF 32 fighter Zygimantas Ramaska this past September.
In other preliminary action, Christian Leroy Duncan earned a clean sweep of the scorecards over recent Contender Series alumnus Andrey Pulyaev in middleweight action, while Chris Padilla edged out Jai Herbert via split decision at lightweight.
English fighters went 2-3 on the prelims on Saturday.
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