• TUF Smashes

UK team getting 'cocky' in TUF Smashes

ESPN staff
July 18, 2012
George Sotiropoulos and Ross Pearson go head-to-head © Getty Images
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UFC president Dana White has sounded an early warning to Ross Pearson ahead of the TUF Smashes series, claiming the British team are underestimating their Australian rivals.

Pearson knows all about arrogance on an Ultimate Fighter series, having been part of the British team that shocked their US counterparts in 2009. Pearson won the lightweight final of that season, with compatriot James Wilks taking the welterweight crown.

Now Pearson is the coach, and it is the UK that stands as the more established MMA nation against its Australian counterparts.

Pearson coaches against George Sotiropoulos, with the pair eventually squaring off at 155lbs, and Marshall Zelaznik has already served warning as to the quality of the Australian team. Now White has affirmed that belief that the UK could be in for shock.

"Because MMA is newer here than it is to the United States and the UK, and this happened when the US fought the UK, the US were very cocky and they felt like you know, 'there's not enough good guys over there,' White said to the Herald Sun.

"Well that's the way the UK is acting right now and when you underestimate your opponent, that's when you get your ass kicked."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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