Paul Elliott Aiming to Show Revamped Version of Himself at ONE Fight Night 14

Paul Elliott has done nothing but train while on hiatus and feels ready to showcase his improvements by taking home his first win in ONE Championship.

Elliott (4-1, 1NC; 0-1, 1NC ONE) is about to make his in-cage return after more than one year on the sidelines. “The King of the North” will take on Mauro Cerilli in an anticipated heavyweight showdown that will take place at ONE Fight Night 14 on Sept. 29. Ahead of his assignment, Elliott provided insights into his preparation for his upcoming fight, emphasizing the increased intensity in his training. The last time Elliott fought, he took on Martin Batur at ONE 160. Initially, the clash ended with a technical knockout win for Batur, but the victory was overturned into a no-contest after the Croatian popped up banned substances. Elliott mentioned that his year-long break from fighting was due to not receiving fight offers and how he spent that time focused on training and skill improvement. The Akurei MMA representative also emphasized the significance of getting his first victory in ONE against a respected fighter like Cerilli.

“It would mean so much. [Cerilli] is an established fighter. He's a big name. He's had a fair amount of fights in ONE. To get a win over him would be fantastic for my career. Ever since my last fight, I've just kept training. I've done a lot more work on my ground game and my wrestling defense. Everything that I've been doing has been elevated now. I’ve basically been traveling to a few different places to train. Um, so I'm still still at Akurei MMA. I am still training there, but I'm also training up at Team Fish Tank, I go down to Wigan as well to train. It's overall, it's improving.”

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(00:10) The origin of his nickname
(01:06) Preparing for Cerilli
(01:37) Competing for the first time in a year
(02:15) His strategy for the Batur fight
(03:08) Commenting on Batur popping up for banned substances
(04:57) Looking for his first promotional victory
(05:52) His soccer background
(06:53) Meritocracy in combat sports
(07:28) Watching soccer occasionally
(08:22) Aiming for a finish
(08:54) Traveling to Singapore
(10:18) Outro