Squeezed into a jam-packed Aotearoa sporting calendar is a low key epic #KiwiUFC bout as Brad Riddell takes on Gregor Gillespie at UFC Fight Night on Sunday afternoon. In a City Kickboxing roster stacked with boxing and Mixed Martial Arts talent, Riddell has built up a compelling case as the funkiest CKB UFC fighter and with years of striking experience Riddell will line up against a bloke who is a decorated wrestler. As far as stylistic match ups go, this is lovely.

This fight also highlights some bigger picture ideas, going back to the lineage and style of fighting within Aotearoa. Wrestling and jiu-jitsu are niche sports in Aotearoa, while boxing and then kick-boxing are the sports where most of Aotearoa's illustrious fighting history sits. Team CKB operate with genuine world-class striking and as their roots go back to Lolo Heimuli and Balmoral Lee Gar, with some of the best fighters from Aotearoa from the past 20 years on the CKB coaching staff; Aotearoa and CKB have immense striking pedigree.

Brad talks to the media pre-fight at UFC on ESPN 21 before his lightweight co-main event bout with Gregor Gillespie on Saturday in Las Vegas.#UFCVegas22 #UFC...

Of course, for Team CKB to compete at the highest level they have consistently shown adequate wrestling/grappling and this is another fight where world-class striking and defensive grappling will be put to the test. Riddell is one of CKB's slickest UFC fighters and also serves as a coach, whether that is showing up to 5am classes on a Monday morning or working with Australia's Alexander Volkanovski for his UFC Championship bouts.

In three UFC fights, Riddell has three wins via decision. No finishes, although he went to war with Jamie Mullarkey in his UFC debut and then showed his class in fights against strong grapplers Magomed Mustafaev and Alex da Silva. Riddell's last two fights have seen him work his way up the lightweight ladder, especially as Mustafaev and da Silva went about their work differently which now escalates in a fight against Gillespie.

Part 1 of the Knockout the day series

Gillesepie won his first six UFC fights, before suffering a KO loss vs Kevin Lee. In these six fights, Gillespie averages 7.02 takedowns per 15mins while Riddell averages just 1 takedown per 15mins and that's the challenge Riddell will face. Riddell has steadily shown nifty defence when wrapped up by an opponent, or avoiding takedowns and in his last fight Riddell spent 3:22mins of the first round battling da Silva's grappling to then break free and get busy with his striking.

Kai Kara-France showed similar patience and skill in his recent win, alluding to Team CKB's defensive prowess. They have methods to avoid takedowns as well as working through their process once their opponent has them wrapped up and appears to be in control.

Riddell spent 1:15mins in the second round and 40 seconds of the third round with da Silva in control on the mat, yet Riddell won the fight. While this points to what Riddell is capable of standing up, allowing Gillespie such time in control on the mat will be niggly for Riddell and his task will be to control this fight with his striking.

If Riddell can do so then we will see the full bag of tricks with Riddell's striking. Riddell has all the weapons along with the set ups, fakes and wizardry to light Gillespie up. Another UFC fight and another test of Team CKB's world-class striking and defensive grappling.

Peace and love.