• UFC 138

Frustrated Etim would love to catch up with Lauzon

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England's Terry Etim returns to the Octagon for the first time in 19 months at UFC 138 this weekend, and while he isn't looking past Edward Faaloloto, he admits he would love to get back to rubbing shoulders with Joe Lauzon and Co.

Etim had been set to fight Lauzon before his prolonged absence from the sport, and with five wins from his last six fights, the Liverpudlian remains one of Britain's most talented mixed martial artists.

Tipped to become a world champion by team-mate Paul Kelly and likened to the 155lb version of Anderson Silva by Joe Rogan, Etim is highly-rated. Now he wants to make Faaloloto the stepping stone to bigger fights as he begins his second coming.

"As soon as I got that fight [with Lauzon] I was over the moon, he's a great fighter and it would have been a great match-up," Etim told ESPN. "At the moment Joe's on fire, but they're the type of fighters you want to fight.

"When you start beating guys like that, that's when you start getting top recognition and you start climbing right to the top.

"As well as being a fighter I'm a big MMA fan as well. Every time the UFC's on, I'm guaranteed to be up until six in the morning. I always watch every fight live. And there's been a few times in the past few months when [I've watched certain fighters] and thought 'I want to get in there!'"

Etim is intelligent enough to know that his next opponent, Faaloloto, is his biggest threat at present though, and he intends to set the tempo on Saturday to make the Hawaiian dance to his tune.

"I'm not taking him as a light opponent, in the UFC there are no easy fights," Etim said. "You've got to keep 100 per cent focused and that's what I'm doing going into this fight.

"I'm not going to worry about his gameplan, he can worry about me. I've got the tools and the skills to make him worry. You're going to see me strike, you're going to see nice footwork, you're going to see me active on the ground and I've got a few little surprises too."

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