It happened less than a year ago, but UFC 105 already seems a distant memory. Sat gallantly at the post-fight press conference dais that November ’09 evening were British victors Michael Bisping, Dan Hardy, Ross Pearson, Terry Etim, John Hathaway, Nick Osipczak and Andre Winner. Each warrior spoke in their own distinctive dialect of national pride, title shots and, most importantly, giving value for money. 

Headliner Randy Couture sat alongside the victorious Brit pack and, whether able to decipher the lingo or not, could be seen nodding heartily with their sentiments. The 16,693 fans crammed inside Manchester’s M.E.N. Arena that night also witnessed the evolution of British mixed martial arts first-hand, the feel-good factor tangible to all in the vicinity. 

A year has since passed and fortunes have changed. While England, as a nation, claimed seven winners alone at UFC 105 last November, British fighters in the UFC are now only able to boast seven victories so far in the whole of 2010, and have conjured 11 defeats in the process. In comparison, the Brits managed 21 UFC wins in 2009, against only three defeats suffered to overseas opposition. On paper, it’s a startling and perhaps alarming fact, and one which clearly demonstrates how the tide has turned for the same rampaging British fighters who so impressively gatecrashed the sport’s elite stage in 2009. 

“A lot of people enter the UFC and don’t realize how hard it is,” warns middleweight Bisping, a mainstay of the organization and the fighter who first blazed the trail when winning season three of The Ultimate Fighter. 

“It’s the premier division of this sport and you can’t expect to just walk in and rise straight to the top. There are a lot of other fighters looking to do the exact same thing. I've said it all along, but it's one thing to get a UFC contract and it's another thing entirely to be able to keep it. I'm proud of myself because I've been a part of the UFC for five years now and am still competing at a high level. 

“Some of the other UK guys haven't fared too well recently – and they've had some bad stylistic match-ups – but I'm sure they will have all learned from the setbacks. A lot of our guys are only young and a lot of them are still very inexperienced.”

A seasoned all-rounder, Bisping has rarely struggled with “bad stylistic match-ups” and, save for a right-hand-aided blip last year, has remained impressively consistent throughout his lengthy UFC tenure. 

“I've been around for five years and I've learned how to deal with stylistic headaches,” adds Bisping. “It takes time and experience, though, and we can't expect these young British kids to just come into the UFC and know everything from the get-go. 

“I fought a lot of wrestlers back-to-back, so I was always subconsciously wary of being taken down. As a result, I spent a lot of time on my back foot, wary of over-committing and being taken down. This is a problem that has faced a lot of the UK guys recently, and we seem to be suffering a lot against wrestlers. That never really happened to me, simply because I was wary and ready for it.” Stifled in their attempts to force a favored striking battle, a number of Brits have recently encountered defeat in eerily similar circumstances. Andre Winner, Paul Kelly and Nick Osipczak all lost via decision to American wrestlers, while hard-hitting welterweights Paul Daley and Dan Hardy succumbed to the takedown in far higher-profile spectacles. 

“The problem is there’s beginning to be too much wrestling in the UFC, not too little of it in the gym,” explains Hardy. “In the UFC, you should go for finishes. You should work for 15 minutes to knock your opponent out, submit him, or improve position to give yourself the best chance of doing either. There are guys out there who just want to use wrestling to hold a stalemate for 15 minutes, without ever risking ground ‘n’ pound or attempting submissions.” 

Hardy lost to UFC welterweight champion Georges St Pierre in May, but managed to survive five rounds with the celebrated wrestler and even performed Houdini escapes to wriggle free from ominous submission attempts. Even in defeat, Hardy extended the champion and walked away with his reputation enhanced. 

Teammate Daley, however, fared less well with elite wrestler Josh Koscheck in May, and was continuously prevented from winding up his trademark hooks in a stand-up confrontation. Taken down relentlessly throughout, Daley's danger was diluted and enthusiasm drained over three rounds. The Nottingham banger’s manager, Wad Alemaddine, insists his charge is doing all he can to improve his wrestling game, but concedes there will always be certain limitations. 

“Paul trains with the Great Britain wrestling team, so he’s working hard to bring his wrestling game up to speed,” says Alemaddine. “Whether that’s enough to compete with the very top wrestlers, I don’t know. He may wrestle for the rest of his life and still never be as good as Josh Koscheck in the wrestling department. That doesn’t make Paul a bad fighter, it just means Koscheck has been wrestling longer. 

“If you put anybody against Georges St-Pierre or Josh Koscheck, they’re going to get outwrestled. That doesn’t make them a bad fighter, it just means we now need to take stock of the situation and figure out ways to get around the problem. 

“These British fighters aren’t going to benefit from being generalized and lumped together, as they are all individuals, all possess different skills and are all at different points of their development. We didn't watch Roli Delgado or Dustin Hazelett get knocked out and then start accusing America of being unable to stand and throw punches.”

While many Brits have recently been prevented from fighting in a fight, it was Leicester lightweight Andre Winner’s recent three-round decision loss to Nik Lentz that once again stoked the lay ‘n’ pray debate. Held against the Octagon fence for large portions of fight, Winner was unable and Lentz was unwilling to kickstart anything resembling a fight. 

“I don’t know whether I’d even call it a fight,” laughs Winner. “It certainly didn’t feel like I was in a fight. I think I got hit twice in the entire fight. Not everybody is going to be a massive puncher, but Lentz’s punches seriously felt like they were being thrown by a 10-year-old girl. He wasn’t hitting me in order to hurt me, he was hitting me so that the referee didn't stand us up. It just felt like I was drilling takedown practice for three rounds and that the real fight would come afterwards. It genuinely felt like we were still warming up backstage.” Though he’d shudder at the thought of ever praising Lentz, the beaten Winner begrudgingly accepts the reluctant wrestler did his job. 

“There’s only so much you can do to combat situations like that,” he adds. “I’m always working on my wrestling and grappling, but these guys have been wrestling since they were kids, and it's hard to stop them stalling because they’ve almost mastered the art of it. I'm going to continue improving myself as a fighter, and that’s all I can do really. I don’t think there’s any one answer to overcoming any of the recent defeats for our guys.”

Bemused strikers Hardy and Winner, while disappointed with recent results, are also quick to distinguish between the type of wrestlers that warrant respect and the kind that deserve a deafening chorus of boos. Hardy recognized the lightweight grappling extravaganza between George Sotiropoulos and Joe Stevenson as one of the best UFC fights of the year, and Winner insists he’d have no problem being ground ‘n’ pounded by Chael Sonnen. 

“Wrestling is a big part of the sport and none of us British guys have ever said anything derogatory about wrestling, when it’s done correctly,” explains Winner. “Sometimes it can be great to watch a wrestler go about his work. Chael Sonnen, for example, is a very active wrestler and shoots for takedowns and works ground ‘n’ pound in a really exciting manner. Nobody can complain about the way he fights. It’s just a certain type of wrestler that I have a problem with, and that's the wrestler that never looks to advance their position or finish a fight.” 

It hasn’t all been doom and gloom for the British contingent this year, of course. Remember 22-year-old John Hathaway coming of age when throwing Diego Sanchez around like a pesky chihuahua in May? The London Shootfighters phenom not only upset the odds, but also fended off numerous takedown attempts and outwrestled a noted grappler for three rounds. 

Former British Olympic wrestler Alexis Demetriades, coach and owner of the Shootfighters gym, believes Hathaway’s sudden ascent owes plenty to hard knocks and a willingness to surround himself with wrestlers on a daily basis. “Hathaway is one of the most well-rounded guys in the UK right now,” says Demetriades. “He’s got everything at his disposal and we make him spar and work with world-class guys. 

“It’s very easy to get good at wrestling when you’re around the right people. It’s not about doing certain drills, it’s about exposing yourself to the right type of sparring and situations. You just need to get stuck in there and mix it with people that are going to teach you a thing or two. The standard of wrestling at London Shootfighters is ridiculously high. We’ve got Russian ex-world champions, African games champions, Commonwealth champions, Iranian national champions and British champions, and it’s this mix of talent that allows us to be successful at what we do.”

In order to counteract the wrestling conundrum, some, like Demetriades, draft in the best wrestlers from overseas, while others, like UFC stars Hardy and Pearson, have begun traveling to America to unearth the key ingredients from those in the know. 

“I spent a week with Frankie Edgar and his Rutgers wrestling team and the knowledge I gained was priceless,” explains lightweight Pearson. “I wasn’t working too much on taking guys down, but I was learning how to keep things on my feet and deal with a wrestler who wants to take me down. It was a tremendous experience, as Edgar is one of the best wrestlers in the UFC, and the kind of fighter I wouldn’t be able to work with in Britain. I know I'll have to seek out the best in America at some stage if I’m going to advance to that next level, simply because they can offer things we can’t get over here.”

Demetriades disagrees, and insists there’s no reason to wave the white flag. 

“I think the idea of our guys going to America is completely wrong and the idea that everything’s better over there is a myth,” he says. “We’ve got it all right here on our doorstep, so long as we learn to do it properly.

“I don’t think we have any difficulties with wrestling at all. If you go to the right places and train with the right people, it’s really easy. The lack of success in recent UFC fights is as much down to the competition our guys are facing than anything else. Once you reach the UFC you can expect to meet the best guys in the world. We don't have any right to be beating these top fighters.” Perhaps Britain’s struggles this year have merely been a by-product of the country's rapid rise to mixed martial arts prominence in 2009. After all, each of the fighters that shone so brightly 12 months ago have now stepped up in class and, in some cases, inevitably found their level – for the time being at least. 

Even in defeat, however, there’s a growing sense that, as time ticks along, Britain's fighters will continue to adapt to levels of competition, grow through experience – either of the winning or losing variety – and sketch more consistent form-lines. 

“There will always be guys better than me in one particular department, but, as far as being well-rounded in all departments, I feel as good as anybody right now,” says Liverpool’s Terry Etim, a man improved from early career defeats to wrestlers. “I now look at the top guys like Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn and wonder how I’d do against them. I don't want to sound big-headed or anything, but I truly believe I can compete with those guys and hold my own.”

Refreshingly, Etim isn't the only young Brit with eyes on the prize in the next 18 months. “I believe that if we expose Hathaway to the right sparring and get good quality fights for him, he can go all the way,” says Demetriades. “I have no doubt that, within the next 18 months, John will have a title shot and will be in a position to win the belt. We’re at a level now where we could definitely have him fighting for the title already, but he’ll be so much more complete in 18 months. From a wrestling point of view, John is by far the best chance we have of a Brit winning a UFC belt.”

If time, tenacity and takedowns are the key to one day unlocking a UFC champion, Sunderland’s Total Combat welterweight champion Ryan Scope could be well-positioned to make his charge. At merely 18 years of age, hotshot Scope is part of the new wave of mixed martial artists in Great Britain. Time and youthful enthusiasm are on his side. Having grown up with the sport and focused his attention on nothing else, Scope is an entirely 21st-century fighting product. He counts Josh Koscheck as one of his favorite fighters because “his wrestling is awesome” and considers jiu-jitsu and wrestling his strong points. 

“I’m a lot stronger than I look,” assures Scope. “I’m not strong in the traditional sense of lifting weights and building muscle, but I've built strength from grappling for so long. I have a very good core and know I can handle myself with good grapplers. 

“I’m also always training wrestling and drilling it hard in order to improve. I’ve been training wrestling since I was 15, so have now been doing it for three years. That provides me with good foundations for the future.” 

Content to patiently learn his trade on smaller shows, Scope has a birth certificate envied by many and a developing skill set that could one day lead him to a UFC contract. 

“My body hasn’t even fully matured yet, so I know I have to be patient,” admits Scope. “In terms of technical ability, though, I think I’m already up there with the top guys in the UK. I’ve also got a lot of time on my side and perhaps have more room for improvement than some of the other guys at the top right now. I think everybody in the world can still improve, no matter how old, young or complete they are. Nobody can afford to stand still, especially in a sport like this.”

In a sport as rapidly evolving as mixed martial arts, we may in time discover that the future knows far more than both the present and past combined.