Old rivals ready for rematch

BRENDAN Loughnane and Mike Wilkinson are promising a fight to remember when they renew hostilities this week.

The two men have their longawaited rematch on Saturday when they meet at ACB 54 – Supersonic at the Manchester Arena.

Loughnane and Wilkinson have fought previously at a UFC event in Australia in December 2012.

Wilkinson won that by unanimous decision, but Loughnane insists he will gain revenge.

“We had a great back-and-forth fight last time and now it’s time to go again,” Loughnane told M.E.N. Sport.

“It’s a bit of a crossroads fight and I think it’s my fight to lose.

“Mike always has that power shot, though, and is only ever one punch away from winning a fight, so I have to take that into consideration.

“I thought I won the first fight but I guess it’s a matter of opinion. I’ve come on massively since then and not taken a day off since, so after I avenge this loss I’m ready to move on to big things.”

Wilkinson is just as excited to get back in the cage.

“This fight is going to be a lot more technical and more calculated,” Wilkinson said. “In the last one I’d recently had eye surgery and shouldn’t have taken the fight, but I couldn’t turn the opportunity down to be with the UFC.”

Tickets to ACB 54 – Supersonic on Saturday are available from manchester-arena.com