After knocking on the door for a few years now, Mikey England feels his trip to the UFC is coming sooner rather than later.
Finishing his amateur career at FAC 1, there haven’t been many James Krause shows that Mikey England hasn’t been a part of. In fact, if it weren’t for opponents pulling out of bouts, he might have fought on all 15 FAC cards.
The biggest moment of his career to this point came at FAC 12: Lookin’ For a Fight, where England would fight in front of The Nelk Boys, as well as Dana White himself, for a chance to land a UFC contract. While the contract never came, it was the exact performance England has come to expect from himself.
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“[Dana White] watches thousands of fights every year and I got to fight in front of him,” England said. “I cut my dude up pretty good and he’s a pretty salty veteran from around the way from the area. I think it’s inevitable. I really do. I think I’m good, I think I was good right off the bat starting out. I’ve only gotten better.”
The UFC FIGHT PASS Fighters To Watch snub has done nothing but prove people wrong who may have counted him out after his lone career loss at FAC 8, and he has bounced back by going 3-0 in MMA, scoring a draw for Team FAC at the UFC FIGHT PASS Invitational, becoming the face of StaleMates Street League and remaining one of the most interesting personalities in the game.
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Without ever raising his blood pressure, England has gone from missing the “honorable mentions” portion of the prospect lists to being in the perfect position at the beginning of DWCS season for a call.
“It’s all right with me because I know there’s a ton of people out there, but it’s one of those things where if I’m not on it at the time you did it, I plan on being on it eventually because I’m always in the mindset that if I’m not up to someone’s standards now, I will be,” England said.
The former D-1 wrestler was already on the UFC’s short list earlier in the year before taking a main event slot at FAC 15, a fight he might have been able to skip.
“They’ve talked about me being a last-second fill in like, back in February, but one of the times I had literally just gotten laser eye surgery like four days before,” England said. “That was just terrible timing. I think I’ve been on the bubble as a last-second fill-in option, but nothing official.”
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Missing his short-notice opportunity, England’s new mindset was, “nothing in the way now.”
No eye surgeries, no other fights and no other opportunities will stand in his way again, especially not after a first round, main event stoppage.
“You have opportunities in life and either you make it happen or you don’t, and so it’s like, I’m going to be as prepared as I can and if I get that opportunity I want to crush it,” England said.
Earning a call from the UFC is every regional fighter’s dream but, for England, it’s quickly becoming a necessity if he wants to continue his career. He feels there’s no doubt he’s UFC-caliber, but he’s quickly running out of opponents to prove it against.
“It’s kind of tough to get the fights I need to get to prove that because it seems like everyone’s so strategic and tactical with their regional fights,” England said. “Now every time I get an 8-0 guy or a 9-0 guy, they seem to back out or get hurt or just not show up. I almost had two fights in a row canceled. That’s eight months of work with no final product. It’s probably inevitable, but I’m getting a little frustrated on the regional scene and I’d rather it happen sooner than later, but if not I’ll just keep plugging away and doing stuff that I think is fun.”
There’s no way to know for sure, but it doesn’t feel like it will be long now before the middleweight division and the UFC fanbase is introduced to “The Street League King.”
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