BRAD Scott reckons that he arrived in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) in earnest as he defied the odds to claim victory over Michael Kuiper in Manchester last weekend but admits that he still can’t quite believe that he’s made it to the top of the mixed martial arts world.

The 24-year-old, from Melksham, raised the curtain at the Phones 4U Arena in the first bout of the UFC Fight Night 30 preliminary card and clinched his first win in the world’s biggest promotion as he tapped out Dutchman Kuiper with 33 seconds of the first round remaining.

Scott latched on to his opponent’s neck before locking in a punishing ten-finger guillotine choke to bring proceedings to an end and the Wiltshire star, welterweight runner-up in the Ultimate Fighter – The Smashes last year, is still coming to terms with how far he’s come.

“I feel like I belong in the UFC now but it’s still so surreal to think how far I’ve come in such a short space of time,” said Scott, who began his MMA career at Melksham’s Dragonslair Gym.

“I remember when I just wanted to get on a Shock n Awe show and I’ve gone from there to Cage Warriors and now I’m one and one in the UFC.

“I was so nervous before the fight that it was unreal. When you’ve got all those people shouting at you, it’s just crazy.

“I didn’t really go out there with too much of a plan because as soon as you hit someone in the face or you get hit in the face, everything changes. My plan was just to be prepared to fight and you can’t go wrong with that.

“Everyone on the internet was predicting that I’d get beat and I was a massive underdog but I won and won convincingly – it was amazing.”

Welterweight Scott (9-2) is hoping to earn a spot at the UFC’s next UK card in London next March and is planning to return to the MMA Lab gym in Arizona in the new year for more top-quality training.

He added: “I went straight back in to training and I want to head back out to Arizona in January. Having the chance to train with champions over there is awesome.”

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