I was ready to die in Fight of the Year with 14 knockdowns before my savage one-punch KO secured a $100K title shot
Lewis McGrillen was prepared to die during his Fight of the Year contender in Glasgow back in September. The 24-year-old Mancunican overcame Dean Garnett in the PFL Europe Bantamweight Playoffs, which many fans deemed one of MMA’s greatest-ever fights. McGrillen and Garnett contested a Fight of the Year candidate in SeptemberJose Peñuela / PFL Europe 3 Now, McGrillen is gearing up for a bantamweight title fight in Lyon, France, that carries a hefty $100,000 prize. “It’s a bit mad,” McGrillen said, in an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.com as he prepares to face Germany’s Alexander Luster on Saturday. “I feel like this is another blessed opportunity that I’ve got upon me from hard work. “I’ve sacrificed so much over a period of time, from 15, 16, to get to where I am now, and this is only the start.” McGrillen is just a normal lad from Manchester, who skipped school in his youth to train in mixed martial arts, and eventually become a professional — a decision he cites as a ‘tough one’ to sell to his parents. ‘The McGrizzla’, however, played football growing up and attempted an early career as a goalkeeper, until he realised he wasn’t tall enough to progress that dream any further. He was a youngster who loved to get stuck in on the pitch and was always getting involved in fights, until he transitioned his aggression into a more profitable endeavour. “School wasn’t for me as a kid,” McGrillen explained. “I just felt like I needed something else. And I’ve always had problems, like how do I tell my parents I want to be a professional fighter? “My mum probably thought it’s probably just a phase, or a way to let steam out, because she knows I’m a hot head. “But for my dad and grandad, I went straight from football into fighting and they saw the competitive stride in me. McGrillen [left] faces Luster in Lyon on SaturdayJose Peñuela / PFL Europe 3 “They probably thought it was just me doing Sunday League, for example, until I started winning regional amateur titles, and then I started moving on into my pro career.” McGrillen has certainly moved on in his career since then, and his Glasgow bout with Garnett proved just how much potential the 5ft 6ins, Manchester native really has. The front-foot brawler has plenty of power in both hands, but it was his left in particular that did most of the work in Glasgow’s OVO Hydro arena. Both McGrillen and Garnett went at it for just shy of 12 minutes and delivered a remarkable 14 knockdowns. Garnett, who used to train with Paddy Pimblett, dealt the first blow, as he swept McGrillen to the floor with a leg kick, before the latter gradually started to grow in confidence. “He was kicking my base away from me and I realised I needed to stay a bit more alert on it,” McGrillen added, recalling his first round with the Liverpudlian. McGrillen and Garnett traded several knockdownsPFL Europe But the Manchester native got the better of his opponentPFL Europe “I started finding my way and finding my rhythm. I was seeing how he was reacting when I was faking shots. “As soon as I fainted I did a sequence of what was to land the shot, it landed and I dropped him. I was actually like, ‘Yo, I’ve just dropped Dean Garnett.’” Within an instant, McGrillen floored his 36-year-old opponent three times during one attack and Garnett was barely awake. “Straight away, I was like, right, I need to finish him now. So I jumped on him, started finishing, it got a bit chaotic. I remember he grabbed my leg, reversed me. “And as he pulled my leg, I thought, no one ever does this when they’ve got a single leg. Punch him! He’s hurt! Punched him again, dropped him, hit him again. He went to sleep. “I felt the canvas woke him up and then back up again. And then it was like, this is wild.” Not long after, Garnett rebounded and scored a knockdown of his own – but he took a punch while landing his and touched the floor too. This made it five knockdowns in the opening three minutes of the bout, with McGrillen having the larger success on the stand-up. With damage to his eye and grimacing in pain, Garnett fought on and was quickly caught by another brutal left hand from McGrillen, before delivering a right of his own. In one of the most crucial aspects of the fight, Garnett then attempted a guillotine choke on the Manchester native, who looked helpless as his legs flailed in an effort to escape the devastating submission. “The second knockdown he got me, when he went flying up with a knee – he slammed my jaw. “And then he jumped straight on the guillotine. It was so deep. I just remember being in it and I could feel it choking me. “I had to kick my hips out. I absolutely scrambled for my dear life. I managed to break the choke out a little bit, and then he changed the grip with his hand and it got a little bit more tighter. “I was seeing bla
Lewis McGrillen was prepared to die during his Fight of the Year contender in Glasgow back in September.
The 24-year-old Mancunican overcame Dean Garnett in the PFL Europe Bantamweight Playoffs, which many fans deemed one of MMA’s greatest-ever fights.
Now, McGrillen is gearing up for a bantamweight title fight in Lyon, France, that carries a hefty $100,000 prize.
“It’s a bit mad,” McGrillen said, in an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.com as he prepares to face Germany’s Alexander Luster on Saturday.
“I feel like this is another blessed opportunity that I’ve got upon me from hard work.
“I’ve sacrificed so much over a period of time, from 15, 16, to get to where I am now, and this is only the start.”
McGrillen is just a normal lad from Manchester, who skipped school in his youth to train in mixed martial arts, and eventually become a professional — a decision he cites as a ‘tough one’ to sell to his parents.
‘The McGrizzla’, however, played football growing up and attempted an early career as a goalkeeper, until he realised he wasn’t tall enough to progress that dream any further.
He was a youngster who loved to get stuck in on the pitch and was always getting involved in fights, until he transitioned his aggression into a more profitable endeavour.
“School wasn’t for me as a kid,” McGrillen explained. “I just felt like I needed something else. And I’ve always had problems, like how do I tell my parents I want to be a professional fighter?
“My mum probably thought it’s probably just a phase, or a way to let steam out, because she knows I’m a hot head.
“But for my dad and grandad, I went straight from football into fighting and they saw the competitive stride in me.
“They probably thought it was just me doing Sunday League, for example, until I started winning regional amateur titles, and then I started moving on into my pro career.”
McGrillen has certainly moved on in his career since then, and his Glasgow bout with Garnett proved just how much potential the 5ft 6ins, Manchester native really has.
The front-foot brawler has plenty of power in both hands, but it was his left in particular that did most of the work in Glasgow’s OVO Hydro arena.
Both McGrillen and Garnett went at it for just shy of 12 minutes and delivered a remarkable 14 knockdowns.
Garnett, who used to train with Paddy Pimblett, dealt the first blow, as he swept McGrillen to the floor with a leg kick, before the latter gradually started to grow in confidence.
“He was kicking my base away from me and I realised I needed to stay a bit more alert on it,” McGrillen added, recalling his first round with the Liverpudlian.
“I started finding my way and finding my rhythm. I was seeing how he was reacting when I was faking shots.
“As soon as I fainted I did a sequence of what was to land the shot, it landed and I dropped him. I was actually like, ‘Yo, I’ve just dropped Dean Garnett.’”
Within an instant, McGrillen floored his 36-year-old opponent three times during one attack and Garnett was barely awake.
“Straight away, I was like, right, I need to finish him now. So I jumped on him, started finishing, it got a bit chaotic. I remember he grabbed my leg, reversed me.
“And as he pulled my leg, I thought, no one ever does this when they’ve got a single leg. Punch him! He’s hurt! Punched him again, dropped him, hit him again. He went to sleep.
“I felt the canvas woke him up and then back up again. And then it was like, this is wild.”
Not long after, Garnett rebounded and scored a knockdown of his own – but he took a punch while landing his and touched the floor too.
This made it five knockdowns in the opening three minutes of the bout, with McGrillen having the larger success on the stand-up.
With damage to his eye and grimacing in pain, Garnett fought on and was quickly caught by another brutal left hand from McGrillen, before delivering a right of his own.
In one of the most crucial aspects of the fight, Garnett then attempted a guillotine choke on the Manchester native, who looked helpless as his legs flailed in an effort to escape the devastating submission.
“The second knockdown he got me, when he went flying up with a knee – he slammed my jaw.
“And then he jumped straight on the guillotine. It was so deep. I just remember being in it and I could feel it choking me.
“I had to kick my hips out. I absolutely scrambled for my dear life. I managed to break the choke out a little bit, and then he changed the grip with his hand and it got a little bit more tighter.
“I was seeing black. I was going out. I thought, you know what, if he puts me out, he puts me out.
“I’m prepared to die here. That’s what I thought. Then I put my hand over his mouth and covered him up from breathing. I managed to slip out.
“I wouldn’t have tapped. I was ready to go to bed, mate. I was just ready to die, basically. That’s how I would describe it.”
As the fight progressed, McGrillen’s knockdowns were more definitive and it became clear that he was doing more damage.
Garnett was dropped again just 12 seconds into round two. A doctor’s intervention paused the bout briefly before McGrillen floored his rival two more times.
In what would be the final round, The Liverpudlian made the grave mistake of chasing after ‘The McGrizzla’ with reckless abandon.
And it wasn’t long before he ran into a counter shot that instantly knocked him out cold.
In a sequence reminiscent of Conor McGregor‘s precise KO of Jose Aldo in 2015, McGrillen got the last laugh with a beautifully-timed left hand that finished the fight.
“I let him chase me. He threw the first left hook, he threw the second left hook, and I thought, he ain’t going to throw the third one,” McGrillen said.
“He threw the third one, I went, bam, left hand, and I sat him and I knocked him out and I thought, ‘Wow, I did it.’
“And then I just, I was covered in claret, I was bleeding, my heart’s pumping through the roof, I was in a mad, primitive realm, how I felt like I was in there.
“I looked down and I’d just seen him out for the count and I just went, ‘Huh, we’ve done it.’ I put my hands up and I was like, ‘Yeah, man, I did it.’”
McGrillen has a professional record of 10 wins and one defeat inside the octagon.
His opponent, Luster, has won in the first round in his last four bouts and boasts a similar record with one less victory.
PFL Europe Championship Lyon is available to stream exclusively on DAZN from 4pm, Saturday December 14.
