HE DELIVERED A significant blow to Cathal Pendred’s career ten days ago, but Tom Breese believes that the Irish welterweight can bounce back.
Breese defeated Pendred via a comprehensive first-round TKO stoppage at UFC Fight Night 76 in Dublin, condemning the Irishman to back-to-back defeats for the first time.
In spite of the four-fight win streak he embarked on after joining the UFC last year, some observers believe that Pendred’s place on the roster could now be under threat.
However, Breese doesn’t agree with that assessment and insists that the 28-year-old Straight Blast Gym fighter can still improve: “He has shown that he’s a UFC-calibre fighter. He’s 4-2 in the division,” Breese told The42.
“People say some of the decisions he’s won were controversial, and I think the one against Sean Spencer probably was, but other than that I think he’s won all his other fights in the UFC fair and square.
“I think Pendred is definitely a UFC-level fighter and he’s proven that already. Maybe he’s more of a gatekeeper at the moment but he deserves to be there. I wish him all the best in the future. He can definitely get better too.”
Pendred pushed forward early in the fight and threatened with leg-kicks and punches, but things looked ominous for the former Cage Warriors champion when Breese landed a devastating left-counter which fractured his opponent’s nose.
Breese: “I knocked a lot of confidence out of him as soon as that landed. It hurt him. I could kind of see that the look changed in his eyes. He looked hurt and he was backing away then and it was just me picking him apart. When he did lunge in, I countered again.”
In his commentary during the fight, the UFC’s Dan Hardy remarked that the bout was part of an apparent rivalry between Dublin’s Straight Blast Gym and Tristar in Montreal, where Breese is now based having relocated from his home in Birmingham, England.
In November of last year, Breese was scheduled to face Philip Mulpeter — one of Cathal Pendred’s SBG team-mates — at Cage Warriors 74 in London, but Mulpeter was forced to withdraw from the fight after sustaining a cut in training. Breese is adamant that there’s no bad blood involved, but he believes that members of the Irish gym are too keen to engage in pyschological warfare.
“I feel like SBG, their team, they kind of try to play mind games with fighters and try to get into their heads, but that’s never going to work with me. I’m a focused fighter and none of that fazes me.
“They tried the same kind of thing when I was supposed to fight Philip Mulpeter in the past but it would have been the same result if that fight had happened.”
The same goes, Breese adds, for Conor McGregor. Joe Duffy is one of Breese’s team-mates at Tristar and the Englishman wasn’t impressed by McGregor’s social media taunts after Duffy was withdrawn from UFC Dublin’s main event due to a concussion.
“With what Conor was saying, I just didn’t feel there was any need for it. He should just focus more on himself and stop getting involved with other people’s lives,” Breese said.
Breese has been touted as a major prospect in the UK for several years. With two first-round wins in the UFC taking his overall record to 9-0, the level of expectation surrounding the 24-year-old all-rounder is starting to build.
The Cage Warriors and BAMMA veteran was awarded a $50,000 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus following his defeat of Cathal Pendred, which was more than he had earned for all eight of his previous fights combined.
But if he continues his rise, there’ll be plenty more big bouts and bonuses to come. Many believe Breese has the potential to be the UFC’s first champion from the UK, and while it’s still too early to be making such lofty projections, he’s aiming to take the next step on that path when the UFC returns to London on 27 February.
“I’ve been a prospect for a while and I feel like this fight with Pendred was kind of like my breakout fight,” Breese said. “I’m 9-0, I’ve stopped everyone I’ve fought — six of them in the first round — so I think the record speaks for itself.
“I’m going to continue working hard to become what I want to be in the future. There are elite fighters in this welterweight division but I have strong belief in myself. I believe I’ll get there one day and it’s one step at a time, but I firmly believe I’ll be a champion.”
