Coming off a solid debut year in 2020 where he was victorious in all three of his fights, welterweight Mikey England continued his winning ways with a first-round TKO of Bryan McDowell at FAC 7 on March 5.
While England had a strong performance against McDowell, it wasn’t perfect. Because of that, he’s happier than perhaps if it were completely one-sided.
“I thought it was a fun fight,” England told MMAWeekly.com. “I had a blast in there. I felt good on my feet. I felt like I saw everything. I felt relaxed in there.
“(McDowell) ended up catching me with a couple of good strikes, so I got to learn about some of my unknown areas, like getting hit and how you react to getting hit and what are your natural reactions. That was good, and on top of that I got the win, so I can’t complain.”
With four finishes in his first four fights, it would seem like an impressive feat in any other time in MMA, but with the onset last year of the novel coronavirus and how it affected training, England’s ability to adapt and be so dominant is even more impressive.
“I just got done with my pro debut and gyms were shut down and stuff, so I took it back to my old school days when I was doing my own workouts in my garage,” said England. “I have two roommates I was getting work in with; we were grappling in our living room.
“It was kind of like waiting and being ready for any opportunity to come because you never knew when they were going to be. I ended up getting in two fights at the end of (last) year, so it was an awesome year.”
Since then, England has been able to get back into the gym, and it’s been the consistency he’s been able to put into training that he feels will help him continue to be as dominant as he has been so far in his career.
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“Wrestling is a grueling tough-on-your-body thing, but MMA has a lot of skill work, so you’re really able to be in the gym all day every day,” England said. “Just because of the consistency, I feel like I’m getting so much better all the time and I’m leading in the right direction.”
While England has an idea of where he’d like to take things in 2021, he’s open to going one opportunity at a time and building his path from there.
“I’ve got kind of a little outline on how I would like the year to go, but it’s just an outline, and as the year goes on I’m filling in the gaps as we go on,” said England. “I’m not getting too bent out of shape if we don’t reach (predetermined points).
“I’m hoping to get four more wins. I’ve got a fight lined up in May, so hopefully go out there and get a win, then maybe get on the Contender Series soon and take things to the highest level and see how I do.”