Brad Pickett has accomplished more than most in a 13-year mixed martial arts career, and he will bow out in front of his hometown crowd at UFC London this Saturday.
However, even across a glittering career spanning nearly 40 fights in several different countries, there are a couple of things the British veteran never got the chance to cross off his bucket list.
As he prepares to take on late replacement Marlon Vera at the O2 Arena – the Ecuadorian having stepped in for Henry Briones on short notice – Pickett told JOE there is one man in particular who he wishes he had got the chance to test his mettle against.
“I would like to have fought Dominick Cruz, because he was at my weight class and dominated for a long, long time – it would have been cool to fight someone like that,” ‘One Punch’ admitted.
“Urijah Faber was the other one and I managed to fight him (last year) so that was perfect,” he added, saying the American pair were the only two who he had hoped to take on.
Pickett ended up being Faber’s last ever opponent before the Californian walked away from the sport in a fight that went the way of ‘The California Kid’ in Sacramento in December, but that elusive bout with Cruz never materialised.
This was despite the fact that the 32-year-old was a near-contemporary of the Londoner in both WEC and UFC, taking the 135lbs title in both promotions before losing his UFC belt to Cody Garbrandt late last year.
Pickett also revealed that he expects to go into coaching after the Vera fight, but he does not intend to live vicariously through his proteges.
“I’ve had the limelight, I’ve had this, for me now it’s not about me any more, this is me waving goodbye to the limelight,” he said, reflecting on an accomplished career during which he met many of his targets.
“When I first started fighting and I got to travel the world, there were a few things on my bucket list. One was to fight in Japan, the other was to fight in Vegas, it being the fight capital of the world,” he explained.
“When I made my WEC debut, I fought in Vegas – brilliant, I loved that. Obviously I didn’t get to fight in Japan, but I’m actually going to get to corner Kyoji [Horiguchi] so I’m going out to Japan in April and I’m looking forward to that.
“Also a thing that wasn’t on my bucket list that I really enjoyed was fighting in the LA Coliseum, and also fighting in Bodog on the beach in Costa Rica – I have some real great memories.”
