At the opening of the UFC London preliminary card, which marks the organization’s first event in the English capital since the start of the pandemic, local fans had reason to celebrate. With three representatives from the United Kingdom in the opening matches of the event, spectators were thrilled by the victories of Muhammad Mokave and Jack Shore. The downside was the loss of strawweight (52 kg) Corey McKenna.
In the first fight on the cards, rookie Muhammad Mokaev – who stood out in amateur MMA with multiple titles – met expectations and needed less than a minute to defeat American Cody Durden. Born in Dagestan, Russia, the flyweight (57kg) – who competes to represent the UK flag – remains undefeated in his career after seven professional fights and his position as a great promise for the future of the division confirms.
In the second match of the event, however, the local crowd could not celebrate again. In a balanced fight by the end of the third round, 22-year-old British Corey McKenna was overtaken by American Alice Reid in the judges’ split decision. Simultaneously, ‘The Hobbit’ suffered his second loss in eight fights in his career, the first for the UFC.
In this sequence, however, the public present in London’s ‘O2 Arena’ smiled again. Welshman Jack Shor showed a lot of technique and with a brilliant presentation, managed to beat tough Russian fighter Timur Valiev by points. Now, the 27-year-old has 16 wins and no losses on his professional resume, and is highly regarded for the future of the UFC bantamweight division (61kg).
Check out UFC London results:
Paul Craig beat Nikita Krylov via submission;
Jack Shore defeated Timur Valiev by unanimous decision of the judges;
Alice Reid defeated Corey McKenna by judges’ split decision;
Muhammad Mokave defeated Cody Durden via submission.
