Brad Pickett Talks Frustration, How to Beat Dominick Cruz

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Brad Pickett might not be a name that strikes a chord with you right away, especially if you didn't watch the WEC. The 32-year-old British bantamweight might be nicknamed "One Punch", but he has a slick submission game to go along with his heavy hands. He was scheduled to face Miguel Torres in his UFC debut at UFC 130, but had to pull out due to a back injury which has kept him on the shelf for a while now. Men's Fitness UK spoke with Pickett about his recovery, his place in the 135 lb. division, and much more. He is first asked about his recovery from the injury is going:

Slow. I’ve herniated a disc in my spine and it is getting better but not at the rate I would like it to. When I’m injured I want it to heal up quick and get back in the gym, but this one’s being really slow because there’s really annoying niggly hitches.

I don't know what "niggly hitches" means, but it sounds frustrating. He also makes it clear how "gutted" he is that he got injured in the first place:

I'm annoyed I got injured - well, I'm more than annoyed, I'm really gutted. I could have beaten him, because I knew that there were a lot of holes in Miguel's style and I knew that I could exploit them with mine. My style is a horrible match-up for him and as soon as they announced he was going to fight Demetrious Johnson I knew Johnson was going to win because he has the same sort of style. But also, I've beaten Demetrious Johnson, so I was annoyed because now he's got that scalp [of Torres] and I would have liked to have had that scalp. I would still love to fight Torres, but there's not a lot for me to gain from it because a guy I've beaten just beat him.

He thinks he matches up well against the UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz:

I honestly believe that out of the top ten guys, I would have one of the better chances of beating him. He dances around a lot, he moves a lot, he’s hard to hit and he’s got brilliant conditioning so I don’t think anyone’s going to beat him by decision – to beat him you’re gonna need to knock him out. And I believe I have more power than most of the people in the top ten and I have great chokes and submissions, which gives me a good chance.

He also discusses when he'd like to finally make his UFC debut (UFC 136), how frustrating it is to be not as well-known as other British fighters despite being ranked higher than them, and goes into detail about some of his submission game. It's a great read about a fighter that deserves more attention. You can catch the whole thing here.