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Irish Invasion

Donegal's Joseph Duffy has signed with the UFC ahead of an expected Spring debut

The last man to defeat Conor McGregor is off to the UFC.

THE IRISH PRESENCE in the UFC continues to grow, with Joseph Duffy inking a multi-fight deal with the promotion today.

TheScore.ie understands that the Donegal lightweight has agreed terms to move to the UFC from Cage Warriors Fighting Championship, Europe’s leading promotion.

Financial details of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but it’s understood to be extremely lucrative in comparison to standard entry-level UFC contracts.

Duffy’s move to the UFC will come as no surprise to MMA fans. With a record of twelve wins and just one loss, the 26-year-old is one of the sport’s most talked-about prospects.

Much of the hype that surrounds Duffy stems from some of his previous wins, which include first-round submissions of current UFC stars Norman Parke and Conor McGregor — the latter inside just 38 seconds.

But having recently returned to MMA after an undefeated seven-fight stint as a professional boxer, Duffy has shown that he’s still getting better and has the potential to be a considerable threat in the UFC’s 155lbs division.

He submitted Damien Lapilus last August at Cage Warriors 70 in Dublin, before stopping Julien Boussuge with a spectacular KO at Cage Warriors 74 in London in November.

UFC officials have been in negotiations with Cage Warriors for quite a while about securing the signature of Duffy, who they expect to be a valuable commodity in the growing Irish MMA market.

Hailing from the coastal Donegal village of Burtonport, Duffy is now based in London and fights out of the MMA Clinic and Team Titan.

As a 22-year-old, Duffy featured on the twelfth season of The Ultimate Fighter. Ten of his twelve professional wins have come in the first round.

The UFC hope to give Duffy his debut in the octagon in March or April. No further details are available just yet, but all we know for now is that it can’t come quick enough.

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