• John Hathaway

Judges have a really difficult job - Hathaway

Nik Lentz struggled to inflict damage against a grounded Andre Winner © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Hardy suggests pay cuts for inactive fighters
  
• News: Strikers need to find ways to beat wrestlers - Hathaway
  

The big issue in the past week of MMA seems to have been about whether certain fighters are 'doing enough' inside the Octagon, or whether there is a concerning trend of point-scoring going on. I saw Dan Hardy's comments after the Nik Lentz v Andre Winner clash, about certain fighters - particularly wrestlers - not coming to fight.

It's a two-sided issue really. Sometimes you go in with the intention to wrestle, to fight the fight in your domain, and sometimes you will pull it off while other times it doesn't happen. It's a hard one to comment on. Quite often a wrestler like Lentz can pull off a submission or inflict ground and pound and it's exciting, but there are going to be times when an individual can become too involved in the importance of the fight, where takedowns and ground control suddenly take over from the will to do damage.

Judges and referees have a tough job. You definitely cannot break people up when they're in certain positions. Let's not forget, sometimes it's up to the guy on his back to find a way to get back to his feet. That's part of mixed martial arts. He also has to find a way to establish a range so that he can get his strikes off without being taken down.

Personally speaking, I don't feel pressure to go in there and make sure it's entertaining, but I think it's important to maintain a high work rate because I know that will tire my opponent out. I like to get wins like that, constantly working on them and forcing mistakes. Mike Pyle will get that treatment come October 16, and I'll take any opportunity presented to me to finish the fight.

UFC 120
UFC 120 is now only one month away and I'm bang on track for my fight with Pyle. I've been doing a lot of sparring, a lot of training, and in particular I've been doing a lot of fitness work to make sure I'm in the right shape to fight all three rounds at a blistering pace.

Now it's just a case of making one or two technical tweaks in the weeks building up to the fight, and other than that, it is all about making sure I peak at the right time. I always try to make sure my timing's perfect, so I'm not at my best in training yet, but come October 16 you can bet I'll be ready.

In the past I've had to take a couple of days off at certain times to pull myself back... sometimes that happens in training. It's difficult not to get carried away when you're training so hard to be the very best you can be for fight night, so it's important to know when to pull back. I usually take a day or two off training, maybe do some really light work but other than that I try to recharge the mind and body.

There's nothing crazy to report during that time off, I usually just spend time with the family and play some computer games - anything to take my mind off fighting for a couple of days. I need some work on UFC Undisputed though, I played some MMA fans on it recently and took a bit of a battering!

At the weekend I spent part of Sunday down at my local club, where there was a local amateur tournament going on. I've just been watching some of the amateur fights, they're quite good!

James DeGale stopped Carl Dilks in the first round at the LG Arena

Enlarge

DeGale's top class
Talking of good fighters, I've got to mention the performance of my occasional training partner James DeGale, who showed at the weekend against Carl Dilks that he is a magnificent boxer. Sadly I don't get to work with James on a daily basis. He comes down and does some rounds with us, but we don't get to work with him every day. He just comes down to spar with some different faces, different styles. We try to push him really hard so that he's working for 10 or 12 rounds.

James is a very rare breed of boxer. He's a fantastic brand of boxer, he shows us stuff in sparring that shows exactly why he is an Olympic champion. Definitely a world title shot will be on the horizon somewhere down the line.

I'm not a huge boxing man, I spend more time watching local MMA shows, but I do like to watch the important fights, like when DeGale fights or when Floyd Mayweather or Juan Manuel Marquez fight. I try to watch as much as I can, but I'm MMA first and boxing second.

I hear James could be set for a clash with George Groves in the future, a man he lost to when they were training partners. I'm not aware of that entire picture, but if it's the right time for James I'm sure he'll take the fight.

John Hathaway is one of Britain's brightest prospects in the UFC

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.