Experienced Manchester professionals like Brendan Loughnane and Kane Mousah were early champions of the red-headed and red-tempered bantamweight. You’d often open social media apps and find PFL prospect Lewis McGrillen’s intense, aggressive faceoffs being excitedly posted, a fight week feature that became his calling card right back to his amateur days.
It’s been 14 months since his last outing — a second-round submission of experienced Northern Irish campaigner Alan Philpott following McGrillen’s 2024 PFL Europe tournament title — and due to his absence from the sport, and the interesting life he shares with his fans online, there seems to be so much to ask him about.
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And not stuff you’d talk to every fighter about either.
His head coach at Manchester Top Team, Carl Prince, once described McGrillen as a “council estate hillbilly” due to his obsessive hunting of England’s invasive grey squirrel. He also has had a series of pets named after serial killers. To add to that, he’s a vocal advocate of England’s most infamous prisoner, Charles Bronson, who has spent more than 50 years in various forms of state institutions, including prisons and asylums.
Yes, you could say he is a bit of a wild man.
“I watched the film when I was a kid and I’ve read a couple of his books. I’ve finished the one where he’s in Broadmoor [Hospital]. I’m very familiar with him,” McGrillen beams.
Lewis McGrillen faces off against Rafael do Nascimento this Saturday at PFL Austin.
(Adrián Rubio)
“He’s just one of those old-school British hard men, isn’t he? They don’t make people like him anymore and I thought I’d like to give him the support he deserves. At the end of the day, he’s been locked up for like 50 years. He’s not even killed a man, and these other people have committed the most heinous crimes and they haven’t got nearly the same amount of time as he has. It’s crazy.”
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You see, McGrillen knows he could’ve found himself going down the wrong path had MMA, Prince and MTT not provided him with an outlet to keep him on the straight and narrow.
“Not a lot of people get the kind of outlet that MMA has given me,” he says. “It’s only been around since 1993 or something. He was from Luton and he was around in the 1960s and 1970s. We were just coming out of a big depression from the second World War. There wasn’t a lot of opportunities for people. He’s from a dead-end town where there’s nothing there to put your energy into. That’s how you end up thieving and things like that.”
There are many layers to McGrillen. Despite his dangerous demeanor on fight weeks, he is an exceptionally pleasant young man to chat with. A great example of his sharp duality is that he both loves animals and loves to hunt squirrels.
The two pets he mentions as we chat: a snake called Ted after Ted Bundy, and a cat called Von after ultra-violent Chicago rapper King Von.
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“I did have a pet snake, but he’s passed away now sadly — rest in peace to Ted the snake. But I’ve got a cat now, haven’t I? I love my cat Von, he’s my baby,” he explains.
“I find humor in those things, I’ve got a dark sense of humor. It’s a mindset behind things like that. Fighters are wild people. It’s a big thing in fighting.”
As previously mentioned, fighting is not the only thing the 25-year-old enjoys that satisfies his blood lust.
“I’ve been hunting since about 2019. I’ve just got a thing for it. I love the thrill of it. It’s a very primitive thing and it’s very rewarding. I’ve been hunting squirrels for so many years now, and if you look into it, they are actually an invasive species. If you catch a squirrel in your attic in the U.K., you legally have to get rid of it — you have to kill it,” he says, as if being in that situation is akin to hitting a sort of bloody lottery.
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McGrillen is not afraid to admit he’s very interested in psychosis and how it occurs in people. You get the sense that he likes to explore the darkness in himself when he discusses how he prepares for fights.
“As soon as you sign on that dotted line, your whole mindset changes,” he says. “I know some people don’t really see it like that, but when you signed to fight someone, you’re about to train and sacrifice for eight weeks to have that fight. You can feel your body changing, it’s a transformation — well, for me it is. Then the poster comes out and it gets real.
Lewis McGrillen won PFL Europe’s 2024 bantamweight tournament title.
(Jose Peñuela)
“Then it’s fight week and you see them. At that stage I’ve studied them to the point that I know where they live, I know where they’re from … I know how many times their heart beats per minute. You’ve got to break them down to the point that nothing else matters in your life. Once you’ve done that, you can accept whatever comes of it.”
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It felt like fate when McGrillen was told he’d be fighting Sergio Pettis on July 18 at PFL Austin. It hurt him profoundly when the celebrated veteran withdrew from the fight and was replaced by Rafael do Nascimento — not least because he felt like he could make a massive splash with a win, but because he’d done it all before on a video game.
“I’m very wounded about that,” he admits. “This was one of my dream fights as soon as I signed for this organization. As soon he moved from Bellator to PFL, I knew I’d end up fighting him. This was the name. I even used to play against him on the old UFC game on career mode. That was the fight I needed to win to get the title! That’s how I felt when I heard his name, like I’m playing career mode.
“It doesn’t matter though, I’m going to show up and I’m going to bring absolute chaos,” he adds. “It’s been 14 months and it’s been a bit of journey for me. I can’t wait to show everyone how much I’ve improved. I’d fight King Kong at this stage.”
