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UK MMA NEWS: Former Ultimate Fighter contestant Dean Amasinger earns UCMMA title shot with win over Jermaine Facey
Oct 29, 2010 - 8:00:50 PM UK MMA NEWS: Former Ultimate Fighter contestant Dean Amasinger earns UCMMA title shot with win over Jermaine Facey

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By: Chris Park, MMATorch UK Specialist

Dean "The Renegade" Amasinger made a successful return to action this past Saturday when he defeated Jermaine Facey in the main event at UCMMA: Unbelievable.

The win moves Amasinger into the No. 1 contender spot, and he was joined in the cage straight after the fight by newly crowned champion, John McGuire.

The title fight was set up there and then, with February 5 being the date offered to both men. Amasinger and McGuire shared a few choice words before smiling and shaking hands on a fight for the UCMMA welterweight title.

Despite rounding off his long road to recovery with a win, Amasinger came away from Saturdays fight disappointed in his performance. “It was a tough fight!” Amasinger told MMATorch. “[Jermaine] Facey was even more awkward than I had anticipated. I'm happy I won but I'm not happy with the performance. I think the long lay-off played a part and the pressure of the 'Must Win' situation got to me.

"The positive from the fight is that I came back after losing the first round badly, finding myself in a tough spot and went on to dominate the next two rounds."

While the greatest fighters in the world are never completely satisfied with their performances I can’t help but feel Amasinger is being just a little too hard on himself. In his last fight he looked fantastic, winning both the first and second rounds and doing well in the third. However, Amasinger walked away that night without the welterweight title and instead took home a broken arm and a loss on his record.

During last Saturday's main event, Amasinger recovered from an early strike that saw him spend a lot of the first round defending off of his back. In the second round "The Renegade" managed to shake off the nightmare start and go on to dominate Facey for the majority of round two.

At one round apiece it all came down to the third and final round and after refusing to touch gloves Amasinger went in for the kill scooping Facey up and slamming him to the canvass and dominating the majority of the round en route to a unanimous decision victory.

After spending over seven months on the side lines rehabilitating from the break in his arm, Amasinger took on a young and recently active Facey and beat him on work rate and cardio. This win set up that title fight with McGuire and Amasinger cannot wait for another crack at the championship.

"I'm excited about fighting McGuire," he said. "It's been on the cards for a while and we're two of the best fighters on the domestic scene. But after February 5 - we'll find out who's No.1."

"I feel like we're similar fighters but I have the technical edge and I'm more powerful. It's going to be an exciting fight."

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Chris Park is the MMATorch UK Specialist and guest columnist at ESPN.co.uk. Please email any comments or questions to Chris at; mmatorchuk@gmail.com or look us up at http://www.facebook.com/mmatorchuk2 our new MMATorch Facebook home for UK Fans!