The pair tied up early in the opening round, with Parkin getting the fight down about a minute in. Machado had his back to the fence, and didn’t seem to feel a sense of urgency when it came to getting back up. Instead, he waited for an opening, scrambled, made it up— and was then taken right back down.

This time, Parkin stayed heavy on top in half-guard. Machado clasped his hands, but a moment later, he forced his way up, pretty much all power.

From there, the pair squared off along the fence, and most of the time remaining played out on the feet before they moved on to the second frame.

Machado found success with his left hand early in round two. Momentum, however, shifted back to Parkin as the round wore on, as the Brit was able to get on top in half guard again. Parkin spent some time working, getting in some damage until Machado pushed him off, then fired a jump knee back on the feet. Parkin tied up, utilizing some dirty boxing to bully Machado and push him to the fence. Parkkin went after a takedown, but instead Machado took the back in a scramble. Not for long, as Parkin reversed, and grabbed a crucifix, dropping elbows and working for a kimura until Machado escaped just ahead of the buzzer.

Round three was still very much anyone’s fight. Parkin was showing some damage by one eye. About a minute and a half in, the pair clashed heads, leading to a brief pause. Able to continue, they went back to work on the feet, Machado marching forward, firing hands and leading the attack. A lot of his shots were missing, to be fair, and both men were tired. Parkin closed the distance for a takedown, which Parkin pulled free of.  Machado mixed in a low kick, and Parkin found a bit of gas in the final minute, backing the Brazilian up. Machado fired another jump knee, missing, and Parkin took a labored swing before the horn.

Come the scorecards, all three judges scored the bout for Mick Parkin, keeping his undefeated record intact.

Official Result: Mick Parkin def. Caio Machado by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

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Parkin (7-0) returns to the octagon against Caio Machado, still glowing from his win in London this past July.

“Amazing. Amazing to finally fight in the UFC, on like the best show in the world,” Parkin told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview. “And then to be in London, the warm crowd for the first one, was a fairy tale really.”

Parkin’s debut at the o2 Arena in London marked the first time he’d gone the distance in a fight. And while Parkin would gladly take a first-round finish each and every time out, “I was actually quite happy to go three rounds,” said Parkin.

“I felt actually pretty fit as well, I felt like I could have done some more,” he continued. “Maybe could have pushed a little bit more in the second round, is the only thing. After the fight, I thought I could have probably done a little more in that second round particularly. But I’m happy to do three rounds, I felt really fit, I know I can do three rounds if need be now.”

In Machado, a fellow graduate of Dana White’s Contender Series who is making his debut in the bout, Mick Parkin sees a dangerous fighter. One who slings heavy leather.

“He’s definitely a good match-up for me. He’s wild, he’s definitely there to be hit as well.” Parkin sees a lot of big overhands coming from Machado. And knows he’s extremely dangerous. “I’ll definitely have to be switched on for the full 15 minutes if it goes that far.”

Watch our full interview with UFC Vegas 82 heavyweight Mick Parkin above.

The post UFC Vegas 82: Mick Parkin Knows He Must Be “Switched On” For Full 15 Minutes with Machado appeared first on Cageside Press.

A Contender Series fight is one that has stakes like none other, where fighters must showcase their skills to impress the UFC president enough for a contract with the promotional giant.  Holding the Contender Series with a smaller cage inside the UFC Apex venue makes for a tense atmosphere, and with only close friends and family of the competing fighters in attendance as spectators. Emotions always run high, as a limited number of contracts can be given out on any given night, and many fighters can potentially have their dreams snubbed out solely because of bad luck.

In rare cases, however, a fighter gets a second look. This series will examine those.

For this week, the 6th week of the Contender Series for 2023, the Redemption Series will be taking a look at multiple fighters including, Eduardo Neves. 

Eduardo “Bbzao” Neves (17-1 MMA)

Age: 23 years old

Height: 6’2″ / Reach: 78″

Weight Class: Heavyweight (265lbs.)

First DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2022 (Week 5)

Old DW’s Contender Series Opponent: Mick Parkin (7-0 MMA)

Second DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2023 (Week 6)

New Opponent: Jhonata Diniz (5-0)

First Contender Series Fight

Eduardo Neves competed on the Contender Series for the first time a little over a year ago. Heading into the fight, Neves had violently stopped every opponent he had faced with punches expect for in his pro debut (a doctor’s stoppage due to a cut).

Heading into his Contender Series fight Neves had stopped three men in under a total of three minutes of in cage time.

For as long as it lasted, Eduardo Neves’ first fight on the Contender Series was exciting with the two heavyweights coming out and throwing leather. Neves showed off some speed in the pocket, fast hooks and although a bit wild, was able to crack his opponent a couple of times before ultimately making the fatal mistake of taking the fight to the ground. There not only did Eduardo look a bit green but he was unable to defend to return to his feet and had to tap to a rear-naked choke on the fence.

First Contender Series Opponent

Eduardo’s opponent for his appearance on the Contender Series was the undefeated Mick Parkin. Mick had also had all stoppages on his record albeit against slightly inferior competition to Eduardo’s.

The combined record of opponents that Mick had faced at the time he faced them was: 18-46. Compared to Eduardo’s opponents who were much less experienced at: 12-5

Parkin also boasted an eight-fight amateur career spanning about three years where he amassed an impressive 7-0-1 record.

Since facing Eduardo Neves on the Contender Series last year and earning a contract, Mick has only competed one time in the UFC.

Mick’s UFC debut came just a few weeks ago when he took on a Redemption Series alumnus in then 10-3 Jamal Pougues. Parkin was able to cruise to a unanimous decision victory improving his record to 7-0.

With the wealth of experience that Mick has in combat sports including a pro kickboxing bout and with the trajectory of his career, it’s safe to say that it’s a loss that has aged well for Neves.

The Road Back 

Since losing to Mick Parkin last year the 23-year-old Eduardo has competed twice.

The first fight came a couple months after his Contender Series fight when he took on then 10-4 fighter Jackson Goncalves. Jackson, though 40 years old, is a physically imposing specimen and has competed against some stout guys on the Brazilian regional scene. Neves scored a second-round finish.

Eduardo competed at LFA 154 in March where he took on then 6-0-1, Hyago Silva. Eduardo stopped his opponent just before the end of the first round via ground n’ pound.

Gameplan/ New Opponent 

For his opponent this time on the Contender Series, Eduardo will be taking on another undefeated fighter in Jhonata Diniz. Diniz is a 6’4″ kickboxer that is a veteran of the famed Glory kickboxing promotion and has competed against Daniel Ghita and the current, 10x, Glory heavyweight kickboxing champion, Rico Verhoeven.

Jhonata has a pro kickboxing record of 22-7.

Diniz made his pro MMA debut in May of last year and has competed five times finishing all five of his opponents in the first round on the Brazilian Regional circuit. Jhonata faced three men that had one fight or less in pro combat sports at the time of the fight. But inexperience aside, make no mistake, this is one of the most skilled heavyweight strikers in the sport of MMA today.

The easiest path to victory for this fight for Eduardo would be to wrestle as Diniz is still incredibly green and just only a year into his MMA career. But Eduardo’s biggest strength (or weakness) is definitely his striking and his willingness to throw caution to the breeze and get into a slugfest.

The post Redemption: Second Chances on Dana White’s Contender Series — Eduardo Neves appeared first on Cageside Press.

Parkin (7-0) was coming in off the back of a first round victory over Eduardo Neves on the Contender Series, whereas his opponent, Pogues, was coming in off his successful UFC debut against Josh Parisian, where he picked up the decision.

Earlier in fight week, Parkin spoke about the fact that Pogues was the more experienced fighter, but admitted that he believed he had more tools to get the job done. He did just that by picking up the unanimous decision victory, with this being his first fight to go to the scorecards.

Despite the impressive debut win, Parkin believes that he could’ve performed better and has more to show the UFC fans. “I haven’t watched the fight back yet so I’ll have to watch it back before I talk about that too much but I feel like I definitely could’ve done better.

“It’s heavyweight MMA so I don’t take too many big shots early. I feel like I’m a lot fitter than most heavyweights so getting out of the first round is probably key to me winning a lot of times. I felt he [Pogues] did slow down, but I didn’t, but I didn’t do enough to finish him really.

“My coach was saying it was tight so I knew it was tight going into the third he was saying ‘just think there might be one or two there that were tight’ and then I thought the last 30 I’d make a little statement,” Parkin said.

Watch the full UFC London post-fight press conference with Mick Parkin above.

The post Mick Parkin Admits That He “Could’ve Done Better” Following Debut at UFC London appeared first on Cageside Press.

Like Parkin, Pogues was a DWCS alum, who had won his promotional debut earlier this year when he defeated Josh Parisian in a three-round decision.

In the opening round, it was a slow feeling-out process for the first few minutes. Pogues was focused on the jab while Parkin was landing leg kicks. Parkin was landing with more impact with the kicks and the punches when he threw them. Parkin landed another right hand which drew a big reaction from Pogues. Pogues did a good job keeping the jab up doubling up on it at times. Close opening round.

Both guys were aggressive to start round two and Pogues would press Parkin against the cage. Pogues went for a single leg but Parkin stayed upright. Pogues at least made him pay with some elbows before they separated. Parkin kept attacking the leg kick that was visibly giving Pogues issues. Pogues was low volume as the round went on and had trouble connecting.

In the final round, Pogues was most likely in need of a finish. Parkin was right back to work early with the kicks to the lead leg. Pogues was just standing in front of Parkin not throwing anything letting him set the pace. As the fight wound down Parkin more and more started to chip away at Pogues. Pogues never got out of the water in the final round.

No better feeling than a win in your debut 👏

Mick Parkin gets the UD victory!

[ #UFCLondon | Live on @ESPNPlus 📺 ] pic.twitter.com/ClynZueDkh

— UFC (@ufc) July 22, 2023

Official Result: Mick Parkin def. Jamal Pogues by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

The post UFC London: Mick Parkin Wins Debut Against Fellow DWCS Alum Jamal Pogues appeared first on Cageside Press.

Parkin who is a teammate of Aspinall’s, was victorious on the Contender Series back in August against Brazilian, Eduardo Neves. The 27-year-old weathered the early storm from Neves and displayed his well roundedness, submitting Neves towards the end of the round.

Parkin is yet to taste defeat in his five fight professional career which began back in 2019, whereas Pogues on the other hand will be the more experienced fighter, having already fought under the UFC banner.

The Contender Series alum was scheduled to fight in March at UFC 286, but he admitted how he wasn’t 100% and therefore, didn’t want to waste the opportunity. “There was a slight injury after the fight (with Neves on Contender Series), I wanted to make sure I was 100% for my debut so I did get offered the fight on the Edwards vs Usman card (UFC 286) which would’ve made more sense but I wasn’t 100% by then so I wanted to wait six weeks before I was 100% again so i’m raring to go now.” Parkin said.

With this already being the second UK held event this year, Parkin admitted that this may be the last time in a while that he gets to fight in London, as he wants to stay active before the next UK event.

Parkin said: “I know there’s more cards coming to England now but originally it was mainly America so this could be the last time I fight in England for awhile really, so to have my debut where all my friends and family can come down is a dream come true and then maybe the big one next year but I don’t know, it could be awhile before I fight in England again so i’ll make the most of it.”

Similarly to his teammate, Aspinall, Parkin explained how he is an athletic heavyweight who won’t just come in, plant his feet and slug it out. “I think i’ll be different to everyone, I’m not just a slugger and plant my feet, I move nice for a heavyweight so hopefully people enjoy it.”

Watch the full UFC London media day appearance by Mick Parkin above.

The post Mick Parkin Explains What The Fans Can Expect From His UFC Debut Against Jamal Pogues appeared first on Cageside Press.