Luke Barnatt "The big names are starting to fade in England"

[Crylo]

There are two or three big names in England. One of them likes to punch people after the fights finished. One of them has a serious medical condition. The other one is michael Bisping..

Go figure.

lol

 

[Michael13]

I think England could have very successful MMA stars but the country just doesn't care about MMA.

As long as the sport is not popular, none of the elite English athletes will become MMA fighters.

 

[Francis Rossi]

Exactly. Some people here think 70k a fight is way too much. Guess what. A-level athletes will choose another sport.

I suspect most A-level athletes aren't into getting hit or choked out anyway, so the pay's probably not going to be a big factor. Getting beaten up for money is a very strange way to make a living.

Most people do a sport because they enjoy it. Getting paid is a bonus. Anyone that decides to become a professional sportsman for the money is either an idiot or has a high profile and can command a large wage based solely on their name. Most people don't make a great living from sports; they have to work too.

 

[Francis Rossi]

Lol.
Very few around here knows what you are talking about anyway.
But good one.

I liked it :icon_lol:

 

[Handawg]

Btw, McGeary is on his way to being a very dominant LHW champion. Reppin that 6th Borough out here though.

 

[MilesAbove]

Exactly. Some people here think 70k a fight is way too much. Guess what. A-level athletes will choose another sport.

Bingo.

I think part of it has to do with a majority of fans being myopic US Americans. They don't seem to understand that many athletic programs/organizations around the world have tiers. Those tiers have progressive pay scales that outdue MMA by leaps and bounds.

Above-average Semi-Pro players make as much money than the majority of UFC fighters. Yeah, they also have part-time jobs as well.... but again, this is without being the Top 1-5% of athletes in their country, let alone the world. And it is also without the many serious health risks of MMA.

 

[your goutiness]

The thing is the english are pretty bad at all sports on the international stage .. The best footballers in the PL are foreigners, the english national team always perform terrible at World/European Championships. Best boxer is Amir Khan(Pakistani heritage) best tennis player is Andy Murray(Scottish) Best Golfer Rory Mcilroy(NI) etc. He says the english has so many sport stars in other fields i seriously can't think of many except overrated soccer players.

 

[MMA Crazy TV]

Btw, McGeary is on his way to being a very dominant LHW champion. Reppin that 6th Borough out here though.

mcgeary is decent

 

[BobsyaUncle]

England went 7-21 vs. rest of the world in 2014.

There are some good prospects in Bellator (McGeary, Page, Vassell) and elsewhere (Menga, Scope, Till, Breese, Gahadza, Roberts) though.

 

[Damian Bartlett]

The pull toward other sports is too big in England. Why on earth would you want to make chump change getting beat in the face? You have access to THE best Football and Tennis camps in the world. You also have Golf and Cricket. All of which have more (or as much) potential for money. Most of which you do not need a part-time job on the side if you're in the top 10% in the world. All of which involve much less brain damage and pain/suffering.

I mean, hell, in League 2 in England (that's not even A-Ball equivalent for us Yanks), you make an average of $1,500 per WEEK. Imagine!

You may doddle around $50k a year to be not anywhere close to the top flight. All that without getting punched in the face or your shoulder ripped out of its socket. Why on EARTH would you want to fight if you're athletically skilled and in the UK?

As an English fighter, this is spot on. Our 4th tier of football is above your top tier, even our partly semi-professional 5th tier earn

 

[UJustGotChaeld]

They will have Liam Mcgeary as lhw Bellator champ this March and he will dominate much of the ufc lhw division come later 2015 or early 2016.

He will probably never see the UFC due to BFC contract, and people will be discussing his ceiling 5 years from now like other Bellator guys.

 

[Xuh]

The pull toward other sports is too big in England. Why on earth would you want to make chump change getting beat in the face? You have access to THE best Football and Tennis camps in the world. You also have Golf and Cricket. All of which have more (or as much) potential for money. Most of which you do not need a part-time job on the side if you're in the top 10% in the world. All of which involve much less brain damage and pain/suffering.

I mean, hell, in League 2 in England (that's not even A-Ball equivalent for us Yanks), you make an average of $1,500 per WEEK. Imagine!

You may doddle around $50k a year to be not anywhere close to the top flight. All that without getting punched in the face or your shoulder ripped out of its socket. Why on EARTH would you want to fight if you're athletically skilled and in the UK?

I'd nix tennis from that, UK tennis hasn't produced any top players in decades and decades of trying and massive investment (Murray - Ok, but he had to work outside the system to succeed). Golf - I dunno, I hate golf but it doesn't seem like a major proportion of top golfers are english.

I'd put Rugby (you forgot to mention that, but it's probably the main one!! & it has quite a high potential for injuries too...), Football, Cricket as the main sports, also amateur Olympic sports eg rowing have quite a significant pull on the national sporting talent pool. For combat sports, do quite well in Boxing and Judo.... and uh, even TKD ( :redface: )

 

[Selukrid612]

"Yeah man I'm in San Diego living the life, this is the place to be. The fighters I'm fighting, they have no challenge for me"

He has lost his last two and is one loss away from the dole queue. :icon_lol:

He's actually still claiming to be undefeated, which is just embarrassing at this point. I do admire his confidence to a degree, but he's simply way too outspoken and boastful for somebody that is losing to no-names. I can't imagine the shit he'd be saying if he actually got the decision in his last two. We'd probably be looking at a less theatrical version of Conor McGregor.

 

[The_Renaissance]

McGeary is the one hope for British MMA right now, none of the guys in the UFC are gonna amount to anything, they've had enough chances. I'm not sold at all on Barnatt and never have been, usually in exciting fights but he isn't great by any means.

 

[Gearc10]

"Yeah man I'm in San Diego living the life, this is the place to be. The fighters I'm fighting, they have no challenge for me"

He has lost his last two and is one loss away from the dole queue. :icon_lol:

Beaten by a part timer last time out...LOL. He was trying to say pre that fight, that in his mind he's unbeaten. He just said it again after 2 looses. The fireman rocked him bad in third, dominated on the ground and clearly won the fight. Whats gonna happen if they feed him a ranked fighter.....

After the sly jokes he made about Ireland's economy and calling himself a rich kid, despite being humbled in his attempt at becoming a business man, he still has the arrogance to slate Mcgregor for promoting himself. His personality is there for all to see on TUF. Funny thing is, the groveling lick then tried to talk to Mcgregor and cried when he was ignored.

Lots of English fighters I like (Bisping (seriously), Hardy, Pearson and everyone likes Pickett) but this guy is an absolute tool.

 

[I Hate You]

England wishes so hard now that it held Ireland. Imagine how better their economy would be if Conor was a part of England?

Exactly. Conor alone could help pull them out of recession right now. They need all the help they can get. It won't matter in a few more years anyway, as the way that country is heading I'm sure they will all be praying to Allah 5 times a day instead of watching MMA.

 

[lucianfreud]

Barnatt is so delusional talking about himself. What a pratt.
The best UK fighters aren't in the UFC. Admitably there is a shortage but I think there are a handful of names that would surpass the current set.

 

[808 boom]

Barnatt is good.

 

[adnatal]

I don't think there are any 'big name' UK fighters tbh. The only one of our fighters I'm actually a fan of is Semtex, the rest have a mixture of boring style and lame personality.

 

[Cosmic Cthulhu]

Bellator has some decent English fighters who have potential (McGeary, Page, Sass).

McGeary's fighting for a title shot, Page has a lot of hype behind him, and Sass, well he hasn't fought in over a year, but I still think the UFC cut him too early.

Outside of them, it's pretty bleak. I hope more young English fighters burst onto the scene soon. There are enough MMA gyms popping up in the UK, but the quality, in general, is lacking.