Is The UFC Ready for a British Invasion?

In recent years, the UFC has become one of the biggest sports on the face of this earth. To say that it's been the fastest growing sport would be an understatement. The expansion of MMA has been felt around the world, but maybe nowhere as much as England.

Last night at UFC 105 held in Manchester, England, 10 Brits were featured in a total of 11 fights. It seems the UK is slowly but surely taking over. The UFC has created stars coming from England in the past years and now, they are ready to make their mark.

Just to show how much the sport of MMA evolved in England, The Ultimate Fighter season nine featured an all UK team of fighters. To make it even more interesting, two UK fighters won the show.

Here's a look at some of UK's top talent in the UFC.

Ross Pearson

Pearson is the lightweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter season nine. He dominated the weight class on the show and defeated fellow UK fighter Andre Winner in the finale to win. Before his UFC 105 fight last night, we didn't know what Ross Pearson was all about. One day after, it's all changed.

Pearson dominated an MMA veteran in Aaron Riley and displayed better skills then ever before. Pearson looked much better then on the show last night and with such a decisive win over a tough fighter like Riley, that immediately puts him in the lightweight division's deep waters.

Andre Winner

Winner a finalist from the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter. He lost in the finale to Ross Pearson but still displayed well rounded skills on the show. Winner is most known for his boxing skills and is said to have some of the fastest hands in the UFC.

Andre Winner surely proved that when he KO Rolando Delgado at UFC 105 in England. Although Delgado isn't anywhere near the top of the food chain at 155 pounds, it was still an impressive win for Winner. Andre also trains with Dan Hardy and that can't be a bad thing.

John Hathaway

I recently wrote an article on this young man saying that he was the future of the welterweight division and so far, he's proved me right. Hathaway is only 22 years old, and 12-0. He made his UFC debut at UFC 93 and has beat Tom Egan, Rick Story and now Paul Taylor.

Hathaway is a very well rounded fighter and at such a young age, he can only improve from here. At UFC 105, he had his first fight against a well known fighter in Paul "Relentless" Taylor and passed the test with flying colors. Hathaway kind of reminds me of Jon Fitch, he's passing under the radar for now, and then he'll beat a top fighter and everybody will wonder where he came from.

Terry Etim

Terry Etim began his UFC career at UFC 70 with a win. After that, he suffered back to back losses to Gleison Tibau and then Rich Clementi. But at the age of 24, Etim now looks better then ever. Since losing to Clementi at UFC 84, he's on a four fight win streak. In his last two fights, he earned submission of the night honors.

That doesn't mean he isn't a good stand up fighter. Etim is one of the tallest fighters in the UFC lightweight division and with his 73 inch reach, has caused problems for more then one fighter. I think it's time for him to have a step up in competition... how about Melvin Guillard or Spencer Fisher?

Paul Daley

Some UFC fans may not know Paul "Semtex" Daley since he only had his first UFC fight at UFC 103. Fact of the matter is, this man is for real. He took out Martin Kampmann in his debut fight and did it impressively. Daley has proved in the past that he had rock solid hands and that whoever is stupid enough to stand with him, will get knocked out.

Daley has also showed that his weakness was his ground game, but he still has time to improve it. With his recent win over Kampmann, now he'll be fighting Carlos Condit and that fight should show us exactly where Daley stands in the welterweight division.

Michael Bisping

Michael Bisping is England's biggest fighter currently in the UFC. He's the winner of the third season of The Ultimate Fighter and has proved to be a great fighter. He suffered a set back against Dan Henderson at UFC 100 and alot of people began doubting Bisping. At UFC 105, he changed everybody's mind.

He got rocked against Kang at 105, but he kept it together and got the win in the second round by TKO. It wasn't the best version of Michael Bisping the fans have seen, but he should get back to his winning ways and look better then ever.

Dan Hardy

Dan Hardy is the real deal, there's no other way to put it. He took the UFC by storm since his debut he there's no stopping him. Hardy has only had tough fights since his debut at UFC 89, Akihiro Gono and Rory Markham were tough challenges but Hardy won both fights. He mentally destroyed Marcus Davis and pulled off what alot considered and upset.

At UFC 105, Dan Hardy looked better then ever with an impressive win over top contender Mike Swick. Swick was always known for his fast punches, good stand up skills but Hardy showed that he could take a punch and deliver one too.

He rocked Swick more then once and never seemed to be fazed by Mike's punches, he walked right through them. Dan Hardy is now in line for a shot at Georges St-Pierre and the welterweight championship. Some will say that it's too early for Hardy to get this opportunity, I say whoever beats Swick this easily deserves it. He displays confidence in himself that nobody else has, his confidence is something that could get him far.

In my recent interview with Hardy, I asked him about an eventual fight against GSP and he didn't looked bothered at all, he looks very confident, it should be interesting.

Keep an eye out for all those UK fighters, I'm feeling a British Invasion soon.