The Bigslow returns to the Octagon in Manchester

Luke Barnatt vs Andrew Craig set for UFC Fight Night 30

by Ben Heather @benheather

Luke Barnatt (6-0 MMA 1-0 UFC) will get the chance to fight for the UFC in his home country on October 26th when the UFC returns to Manchester, England. Barnatt who made his way in to the UFC through the latest series of The Ultimate Fighter where he was Chael Sonnen's number one pick making him the number one pick overall. He then proved to Sonnen why he was picked first by brutally knocking out Gilbert Smith with a flying knee in his first fight in the house.

Luke ultimately lost out to Dylan Andrews in the third round of his quarter final fight. This loss may have put Luke out of the running to become TUF champion but it did put an extra $25,000 in his pocket when it was awarded the fight of the series. Once out of the house Luke made his UFC debut at the TUF 17 Finale on his 25th birthday where he squared off against fellow house mate Collin Hart. He came out of the fight with a unanimous decision giving him a perfect 6-0 MMA record.

But now comes the real test for Luke, fighting in his home country against a step up in opponent can he keep that perfect record intact?

Andrew Craig (9-1 MMA 3-1 UFC) will be doing all he can to make sure that is not the case. Craig comes in to this fight after picking up possibly the biggest win of his career at UFC 162 where he defeated Chris Leben. That victory got Craig back in the winners circle after losing the first fight of his career to Ronny Markes at UFC on FX 7 in January.

It seems to me that Andrew Craig has the attitude to fighting that he will fight anyone, anywhere and I love that in a fighter. If you take his record since he has signed for the UFC it certainly backs that up. In his four fights for the UFC he has fought and beat Kyle Noke in his home country of Australia, lost to Rony Markes in his home country, Brazil and had two fights in the USA as well. Now in October he will be coming to England to fight one of our own and I am sure the crowd in Manchester will certainly let him know which fighter is being favoured.

The card for UFC Fight Night 30 is filling up now but I am sure we will get a couple more fight announcements in the coming days which will finalise the card.