Mick Parkin Feels Chill Ahead Of His UFC Debut

There are only two “local stops” per year for fighters like Parkin, who earned his contract in August with a first-round stoppage victory over fellow unbeaten prospect Eduardo Neves. While the UFC matchmakers do their best to load up these London events with fighters from the United Kingdom and surrounding European nations, the timing doesn’t always work out, and it wouldn’t have been inconceivable for Parkin to have made his first foray onto the biggest stage in the sport in Vancouver, Las Vegas, or Jacksonville in the last two months.

Fortunately for him, things lined up as they did, and he’ll get to compete in front of family and friends this weekend.

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“I think it’s great for the first one, as all my friends and family can make this first one,” he said of competing close to home. “Realistically, it could be mainly America from now on, which is too far to travel. It could be a couple years before I’m back home.

“I know there are more English cards now, so hopefully there is a chance for us to fight in London or anywhere else in the U.K. But realistically, it’s going to be further afield, so it’s better to get the first one in the U.K. where all my friends can see us, and then get to work.”

In this case, that means Pogues, a fellow 27-year-old with the same ambitions of climbing the divisional ladder.

After failing to secure a contract with a victory in his first DWCS appearance, the six-foot-three prospect that has navigated through various challenges in his personal life punched his ticket to the UFC two weeks earlier than Parkin before registering a unanimous decision win over Josh Parisian in his first promotional appearance back in February.

“I watched all heavyweights on the Contender Series because I figured I was going to get someone from the Contender Series, so I did see him originally,” Parkin began, offering a cursory take on his opponent. “Obviously when I got his name, I re-watched his Contender Series fight, re-watched his UFC fight, and picked some things up.

“There are no easy fights now, but I’ve watched what I think he’s good at, we’ll try to combat that with what I think I’m good at, and I think it’s a great matchup for us and, on the day, that’ll show. I’ve just got to stick to my game plan and we’ll be great.”

The big man from the northeast of England is a bit of an unknown commodity heading into this one, just as he was last summer when he touched down in Las Vegas, because he simply hasn’t gotten many opportunities to show what he’s capable of against opposition that really rates.

A strong amateur career and training with former UFC competitor and current KSW heavyweight ruler Phil De Fries made opponents hesitant to step in against the promising Briton, meaning he was left to face whomever was willing to put pen to paper. Usually, that meant facing one of two types of opponents — weekend warriors happy to step in and test themselves or professional opponents unbothered by adding another loss to their already lopsided records.

Parkin consistently handled his business, swiftly, but it’s difficult to build an assessment of a fighter when they’re facing overmatched foes.

“I understand that everybody wants to be at the same place, so the hard fights, people said, ‘No,’” explained the Parkin, who was a reasonably sized underdog heading into his bout with Neves last summer. “It was always hard, and if you look at the people I’ve fought, their records aren’t the greatest, and that was the thing going into Contender Series: I was there to get beat — Eduardo was beating everybody and I was there with a good record, but hadn’t beaten people.

“But everyone that knew me knew I’m decent; it was just hard to get fights,” he added. “Then I'd train with Phil and Tom and I started to understand, ‘I’m good, I just need the opponents to show it.’

“I think I showed a little of it at the Contender Series, and Saturday people will see it.”

He blew through the previously unbeaten Neves, who has since rebounded and claimed the LFA heavyweight title, in under two minutes, and if the exploits of his main training partner De Fries and success garnered by Aspinall out of the chute are any indication, Parkin is another British heavyweight with the potential to make waves in the sport.

Not that he’s in any kind of rush to do so.

“I’ve never been in a rush; I’ve always trusted that it was going to happen, so I go one at a time,” said Parkin, shedding some light on his professional outlook. “I know Tom was in no rush, but then it all shot on him, so it depends on your results. Once you start like he was doing, beating guys quickly and consistently, it just goes, but I’m going to take every fight as it comes and see what happens.

“It’s just the stage now of getting some fights in the UFC, getting those under your belt to where people are like, ‘Oh, he’s actually okay; he hasn’t just been chucked in.’”

It’s a rock-solid approach, one that has served Aspinall well to date, and if all goes according to Hoyle this weekend, it will result in both British heavyweights getting their hand raised on Saturday before heading out for a night to celebrate and then waking to enjoy the breakfast Parkin has been eyeing all week at the host hotel.

“A lot of friends are down, so I think I’ll be straight on the beers,” he said, detailing the post-fight celebration plans. “(De Fries) is here, too, and he likes his beer, his mixed drinks, plus I’ve got a feeling Tom will win, so I think it’ll be a heavy session.

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“Then Sunday morning, when I’m hungover, that’s when I’ll be eating everything,” laughed Parkin. "They do a lovely breakfast here in the hotel that I’ve been eyeing up — fried English — and I like pancakes with Nutella and that.”

But before the drinks and the high-end breakfast comes business, and while everything has been easy going and comfortable all week, Parkin admitted that the moment he hears his name announced as the winner and his arm goes aloft will be the point when it all finally hits him.

“I think that’s when it will sink in that ‘I’ve done that. I’m where I wanted to be,’” he said after letting out a telling exhale when asked about getting that first UFC victory. “That’s when all the anxiety is gone, I’ve won, I’m happy; I think that’s where I’ll experience that and that’s where it’ll sink in.”