Chris Duncan speaks exclusively to MMA UK ahead of his lightweight bout against fellow UK star, Jordan Vucenic.
The Stirling-based fighter will look for another outstanding performance in London on Saturday as he closes in on a top 15 spot in the UFC rankings. This comes after a performance that earned him a 50K bonus after a Guillotine Choke in the first round of his last fight in September 2024 and he’s looking to repeat the feat. His next fight against the highly rated former Cage Warriors Champion, Jordan Vucenic, is bound to be one of the toughest tests of his UFC career to date, however, Chris believes he has put in the hard miles in order to come out of the fight with his hand raised.
Yes, there’s definitely a way to top my last performance. Obviously, there’s two ways we could do it: We could do it ‘fight of the night’, or I could end up getting the same sort of bonus through a knockout. I’ve been training relentlessly over the last couple of weeks, so I have full faith in all my skillset and I’m looking forward to putting it on show on March 22nd.
Chris‘ confidence is brimming ahead of the fight, as he alluded to where he could potentially see advantages opening up during the fight as he heads to the cage on Saturday night. He said,
Jordan’s pretty well-rounded, he’s fast, he’s explosive…Obviously, my skillset, I feel is more well-rounded than Jordan’s. He’s a very crisp fighter, good take-down defense but I’ve got the full package.
Chris (“The Problem”) Duncan is no stranger to training with elite-level competition as he bases his fight camps out of the highly renowned American Top Team under the tutelage of head coach Mike Brown . He believes that training in this type of environment every day can give him that extra 5% when it comes to fight night. Saying,
Training over at American Top Team has been a massive part of my game and a massive part of my future. The confidence that it gives me with Dustin (Poirier) (#4 UFC Lightweight), Mateusz Gamrot (#8 UFC Lightweight), all these sorts of guys, and them telling me how good I am… Grant Dawson (#14 UFC Lightweight) has been a massive part of my career in helping me out with my grappling. It’s great to hear them guys saying that I’m one of their guys in the room. It fills me with absolute confidence.
The O2 is due to play host to a rare piece of MMA and UFC history as Duncan and Vucenic become only the second pair of fighters to face off Scotland vs England in MMA’s Premium Promotion. Chris is up for the challenge and thrives in these David and Goliath-type situations.
The battle of Stirling Bridge was in Stirling 1314. It’s Scotland vs England again. This is the kind of modern-day Scotland Vs England in my eyes. There’s no added pressure to this. I feel those sorts of things don’t bother me. I’m not a hocus pocus kind of guy. I’m looking forward to getting into the fight.
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