Ian McCall was recently granted his release from the UFC and he’s now quickly signed up to fight in Rizin’s current bantamweight grand-prix.
‘Uncle Creepy’ will enter the tournament as a wildcard, heading straight into the quarter-finals at Rizin 8 in Japan on December 29th against Manel Kape.
If McCall emerged victorious he would then be facing the prospect of a further two fights just a couple of days later when the grand-prix concludes at Rizin 9 on December 31st.
That’s a tall order for the 33-year-old given that he’s been out of action for almost three years now due to injuries and illness, during which time he had to pull out of multiple fights in the UFC.
That being said, on his day McCall is a very good fighter, as evidenced by the fact that he once took Demetrious Johnson to a draw in the UFC, just before ‘Mighty Mouse’ went on a long winning run as flyweight champion that would lead to him being considered the current pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport.
McCall’s quarter-final opponent, Kape shouldn’t be underestimated though, with the 23-year-old Portugese fighter holding a 7-1 record and having made it past the first round of the grand-prix this past weekend courtesy of a 71 second head kick TKO against Erson Yamamoto.
