Hathaway confident of success

English prospect John Hathaway is confident he will win the fight against fellow welterweight Rick Story at UFC 99.

The 21-year-old, who has an impressive 10-0 mixed martial arts record, made his debut at UFC 93 in Dublin in January.

Hathaway is confident he can continue his good run with a victory over Story, who has an 7-2 record.

He told The Sun: "I’m very excited to be fighting in Germany. It is another whole new experience for me.

"Rick Story is very good wrestler, he will be hard to take down in the opening round while he’s strong but I think I can stop him taking me down.

"In the second round I think I’ll get a body lock, I am very strong, and will take him down. Either way I will end up on top of him and submit him or pound him out. That’s the plan anyway.

“To be honest, Dublin and UFC 93 was a great experience, fighting in front of 10,000 people who all wanted me to lose. It was something I’ll remember for rest of my life, I was up against it a little but I came through.

"It gives me a lot of confidence, coming through all that. Some people say fighting hometown fighter in front of a crowd like that like that was a hard debut but I enjoyed the whole thing.

"I thought Egan would be tougher to keep down but I was able to pound him out pretty easily. It was just a matter of staying on top of him.

"Story is a tougher opponent and I am hoping I will have a chance to show more of my game – takedowns, takedown defence, more striking and my groundwork."

Tags: UFC