Issue 074

April 2011

Scrappy ‘Fight of the Night’ magnet Brad Pickett excelled in the WEC cage, and now he’s bringing his gutsy cockney style to the UFC

British bantamweight Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett has a bone to pick with a far more famous Hollywood-based namesake. “People think my nickname was stolen from Brad Pitt’s character in Snatch, but that’s not the case at all,” said the London-born scrapper. “It’s actually got nothing to do with that.”

While Pitt’s exploits as bare-knuckle boxer ‘One Punch Micky’ were firmly rooted in fiction, the 32-year-old Pickett has led a far tougher life, steeped in East End London fighting folklore. If Pitt was merely playing the role, Pickett has been living it. 

“I got my nickname from my boxing days and I wear a trilby and braces to the ring because my granddad used to be a bare-knuckle boxer and wore the same,” explained Pickett, a standout of the WEC’s now defunct bantamweight division. “He died when I was four, so I’ve carried on the look in his memory. I also come into the ring to a bit of Chas and Dave. Again, that’s just a very traditional touch and a nod to my East End roots. I use all those gimmicks because I feel it is important to separate yourself from the crowd and appear marketable.” 

Despite his fighting genetics, Pickett never assumed he’d one day follow the tried and tested path of his forefathers. He dabbled in football, boxing, plumbing and stunt work as a youth, before eventually discovering his true calling amid much pain and confusion. The keen athlete injured his knee while playing soccer and, with stunt work an ambitious no-go, boxing a thing of the past and plumbing his only source of realistic income, Pickett faced a bleak future. It was during this transitional period that a friend pointed Pickett in the direction of London’s Elite Fighting System gymnasium and the blossoming sport of mixed martial arts. One training session later and Pickett had forgotten all about other potential pursuits and committed himself to one more uncertain dream. 

“I remember being a lot more nervous the first time I boxed than I was when I had my first mixed martial arts fight,” recalled Pickett, who debuted as a mixed martial artist in 2004. “I was fighting a grappler in my first MMA fight and I really couldn’t see what he was going to do to hurt me. He wasn’t going to knock me out. The worst that could happen was that he would take me down and choke me out. I wasn’t really worried or nervous about that. I just assumed he’d be a lot more scared of me, because I was a boxer and could switch his lights out with a punch. The guy weighed 10kg (22lb) heavier than me and I think he took one look at me, realized how small I was and then foolishly decided to stand with me. That was a bad move for him, because I stopped him in 40 seconds.”

Seemingly a natural with his hands, ‘One Punch’ claimed the Cage Rage featherweight title in only his fifth fight. He soon became renowned in the British Isles for his high-octane style and relentless pace, something which proved difficult to overcome for many of his early counterparts. “I’ve got some technical ability, but that’s never been my strength,” said Brad. “My strength has always been my willingness to just get in there and fight. I can break people down mentally by coming forward aggressively, taking what they have to offer and then hitting them harder. I don’t believe you can teach toughness and the will to win, and I believe I have both in abundance.”

Pickett’s lethal concoction of hard-nosed work ethic and heavy-handed puncher power soon led him to international recognition and, in 2008, the chirpy Brit was snapped up by World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and seamlessly slotted into their world-class bantamweight division. “It was a massive move for me and one I was hugely grateful for,” said Pickett, now 20-5 in his pro career. “They made the commitment to sign somebody from overseas and that wouldn’t have been easy to sort out for them. It would have been far easier to stick with US-based fighters and continue along the path they were going. It was a real honor to be chosen to fight for the WEC and fly the flag for Britain in America.”

Pickett proudly displayed the colors of the Union Jack in victories over Kyle Dietz, Demetrious Johnson and, most recently, Ivan Menjivar last December. He scooped a ‘Submission of the Night’ bonus for his win over Dietz and, even in his sole loss, managed to claim a ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus for a three round epic with Scott Jorgensen. An instant fan favorite, Pickett finally felt like he belonged. With news of the WEC merging with the UFC in 2011, it’s fair to say Pickett plans on sticking around, too. 

“It was awesome when I found out the WEC had merged with the UFC,” he recalled. “I’d always hoped it would one day happen and my immediate thought was that perhaps now I could fight on a UFC show in my home country. There would be no better feeling than fighting on a big UFC event at the O2 Arena in London. I’d have all my friends and family down there to watch me, as it’s been hard for them to follow me in recent years, what with the amount of traveling I’ve been doing.” Armed with 25 professional mixed martial arts contests to his name, ‘One Punch’ Pickett isn’t quite as famous as his Hollywood namesake, but he’s diligently working on it. 

“I’ve had a lot of fights to get where I’m at now and I’ve perhaps done it the hard way,” said the Englishman. “Some people get fast-tracked into the UFC when they’ve only had three or four fights. A lot of these guys are more well known than fighters that have been knocking around the non-UFC circuit for years. Just being a part of the UFC gives you massive exposure and I’m delighted to now hopefully experience some of that. It’s taken a long time to get here, but now I can start showing people what I can do on the biggest stage.”