"I'm not top 10 already, I'm training here with animals everyday and it's just a matter of time...I know you've got to work your way up the ladder and stuff like that, but I know if I was to fight anyone in the top ten straight away I would give them a run for their money no problem."
-- The Ultimate Fighter (TUF): Smashes winner and current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight Norman Parke tells Bleacher Report that he feels he is currently skilled enough to hang with the top-10 fighters in the world at 155 pounds. While Parke has only one bout under the UFC banner --a decision win over Colin Fletcher to win TUF-- he has a strong record of 17-2, has never been knocked out and has won seven-straight fights including five by (technical) knockout or submission. Training alongside the likes of UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and other top fighters such as Myles Jury, Ross Pearson and Michael Chandler at Alliance MMA training center in California, the 26-year-old has the potential to do big things down the line. First, though, he must focus on defeating Kazuki Tokudome at UFC 162 next Saturday night (July 6, 2013) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Can "Stormin" really hang with the very elite of the UFC lightweight division? Only time will reveal the truth.
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