Caolan Loughran won his UFC London clash against Nathan Fletcher by the skin of his teeth. A thorough back-and-forth bout, the contest was indeed as close as the split decision victory for the Irishman suggests. Loughran won the first on all three judges’ scorecards, while Fletcher dominated the second.

Since the Irish bantamweight has lost two out of his last three coming into this bout, winning the third round and thus the fight was essential. Loughran managed to do that at least on two judges’ scorecards. And it seems none of that may have been possible without a certified ‘don’t let him bully ya, son’ moment by Loughran’s brother going into the third round involving bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.

“I thought I won but, like, I wasn’t, like, overly confident. I thought I won. I thought he only got some good shots off there at the end. But between rounds, my brother said to me ‘Merab him, Merab him.’ This fight’s in the balance, my career is potentially in the balance. ‘Merab this m———er if you want this or you don’t,” Loughran told Michael Bisping in his post-fight Octagon interview.

By Merab this motherf—er, of course, Loughran’s brother meant that should go full force and make Fletcher’s life hell by taking him down and keeping him there. As his moniker ‘The Machine’ suggests, the bantamweight champion fights like a relentless, unyielding robot, relentlessly putting pressure on his opponents until they are overwhelmed.

And indeed, in the third round, ‘The Don’ did put on a Merab-esque performance, putting the pressure on Fletcher with repeated takedowns, managing to keep the Englishman down for most of the round. This aggressive approach nearly cost the Irishman the fight as Fletcher caught him with a hard spinning back fist which nearly finished Loughran in the final seconds of their prelim card clash. Fortune, however, favors the brave and Loughran was able to win the fight on two of the judges’ scorecards. And it seems that Loughran’s UFC London performance was significant for him in more ways than one.

Why is UFC London so special for Caolan Loughran?

Loughran has been a professional MMA fighter since 2019. But it seems what really pushed him to take the leap and make it into the UFC was attending the UFC London in March 2022. Back then, the Irishman was still fighting in Cage Warriors, a regional MMA promotion, which is where Conor McGregor attained double champ glory before replicating it inside the Octagon.

But seeing interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall submit Alexander Volkov in the first round and Ilia Topuria recover from a devastating head kick from Jai Herbert to knock out the Englishman in the second round seems to have been the final push that made Loughran go all in on his UFC dream. Moreover, after his own electrifying clash against Fletcher, ‘The Don’ wanted anyone listening to do the same.

“In 2022, me and my brother [were] up in the nose bleeds here when Tom [Aspinall] was on and [Ilia] Topuria and all these boys. And I swear to God… if there’s any lad from Ireland in the crowd who wants this dream, go at it because this is so worth it, so worth it,” a visibly emotional Loughran added. What do you think about Caolan Loughran’s UFC London win over Nathan Fletcher?