Liverpool MMA star close to €300,000 prize after frustrating delay - 'I am sick of his face'

This weekend Mick “The Huyton Hammer” Stanton takes the next step in his pursuit for the biggest prize pot in European MMA, in the quarter-final of Oktagon MMA’s Middleweight Tipsport Gamechanger competition.

Stanton, 38, is three wins away from the €300,000 grand prize, but must first overcome the current middleweight champion Kerim Engizek in Prague on Saturday night.

The pair were originally scheduled to fight at Oktagon 72 in June, but Engizek pulled out due to injury, something Stanton has taken personally. He told the ECHO: “I was annoyed and upset. I put a lot of time and effort into the fight camp. I missed out on my kid’s birthdays, my wife had to go to a wedding on her own. I was in the zone and I gave it everything, and I believe that he had no intention of fighting.

“He waited until a week before the fight to pull out, but the delay has made me better! I’ve carried on working. I’ve evolved in them eight weeks so I’m excited to go out there and get it done.”

Despite the elite reputation and accolades of Engizek, Stanton believes that his grappling will be the key to victory as he said: “I can see me dominating him. Out wrestling him, grounding him out, beating him up, and getting the finish on the floor. He is a very good striker, but it’s mixed martial arts.”

If he is to progress in the tournament, the Liverpudlian will need to be the first man to defeat Kerim Engizek in the cage in almost 11 years.

The Turk has made a perfect 4-0 start to his Oktagon MMA career, claiming the middleweight title and back-to-back knockout wins along the way.

This however does not faze Stanton who actively called for this fight as he said: “I chose him because he is the champion, he is the highest ranked fighter in the organisation, and I have already done a full training camp for him when I was standby for his world title fight.”

Stanton’s final message was one of excitement that the Oktagon 74 event is almost upon us as he shared to his Instagram story: “At last it’s fight week. It’s been the longest fight camp of my life, 16 weeks of hard work, two sessions every day. And we’re here, I am sick of Kerim Engizek. I am sick of his face in my head. I am obsessed with him. And I believe I can go out there and not just beat him, I can take him apart. Let’s Go!”

Liverpool MMA star close to €300,000 prize after frustrating delay – ‘I am sick of his face’

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