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Osipczak fights for Team Rough House pride at UFC 122

Nick Osipczak knows defeat could end his UFC adventure © UFC

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Two members of Team Rough House aim to get back in the win column when the UFC returns to mainland Europe this weekend, and Nick Osipczak admits there is more than his own pride on the line at UFC 122.

In one of the preliminary bouts in Germany, Osipczak goes toe-to-toe with Duane Ludwig in a match-up that will see both men aiming to prevent a three-fight slide. As one of the most impressive members of Team UK on The Ultimate Fighter's ninth season, Osipczak made his official debut at the finale of that season when he submitted Frank Lester late in the first round.

Since then, Osipczak handed Matt Riddle the first loss of his career with a third round TKO at UFC 105, keeping Osipczak's own undefeated record intact. All five of his professional wins had come via TKO or submission.

However, UFC 114 in Abu Dhabi saw the well-rounded welterweight drop a razor close decision to Rick Story, and a second defeat was to follow. Greg Soto was this time the man to inflict frustration on Osipcak at UFC 118 in Boston, but that has only motivated the Briton to get things back on track when he tackles Ludwig this weekend.

"I know I'm improving every fight," Osipczak told ESPN. "I am used to finishing fights, so I want nothing more than to get back to [my] winning ways and have a long and happy career with the UFC. I've made a few changes, the main one being I've been able to concentrate more on my striking.

"I've also approached my weight cut differently; I normally do the whole drop in a week, but have started thinking that just because I can do that, doesn't mean I should be. It might be too much for my body, and I feel that this may be the reason why I've not been performing as well as I should be in the later rounds. So now I'm spreading the weight drop over three weeks to make it less drastic, and hopefully we will see better results."

Team Rough House has had its fair share of bad luck in 2010, with Dean Amasinger breaking his arm, Nik Lentz suffocating Andre Winner, not to mention the Paul Daley post-bell attack on Josh Koscheck. This Saturday, Osipczak will have a golden opportunity to not just raise his own stock in the UFC, but to end 2010 on a high note for the whole team.

"Dean Amasinger, Paul Daley and Jimmy Wallhead have all won recently so the Rough House is still getting results, just not as consistently as one point last year. After any high a low has to follow though, but yes - when me and Andre get our victories it will be very sweet and set the tone nicely for 2011."

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Chris Park is mmatorch.com's UK specialist. To visit mmatorch.com, click here.

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