English fighter wants quick KO of Mark Muñoz in UFC Manila

Win or lose, Filipino-American mixed martial arts fighter Mark Muñoz plans to retire after competing in Ultimate Fighting Championship's first event in the country on Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.

It will be Muñoz's farewell fight but it doesn't mean that his opponent, Luke Barnatt (8-2) of England will take it easy on him.

In fact, the Englishman is planning to go for an early stoppage against Muñoz (13-6) come fight night.

"You can expect aggression, you can expect me to put a high pace and come forward early. He's a very high level fighter so I need to take him off his game very quickly and I think if I do, the fight will be very quick," Barnatt told a group of reporters at UFC's media day held in Solaire.

"If I let him get comfortable it might be a very long fight. So I'm gonna be aggressive, I'm gonna come forward and I'm gonna try to knock him out -- that's pretty much what I'm gonna do."

Barnatt is currently on a two-fight losing streak while Muñoz has lost four of his last five fights.

Nevertheless, Barnatt predicts that a fight between him and the Filipino would be an exciting one.

"There's no secret in this fight; Mark is gonna try to take me down and I'm gonna try to knock him out. Stylistically it's one of those fights that's gonna be very exciting." -- JST, GMA News