Norman Parke (photo via msn.foxsports.com)

By FCF Staff

Norman Parke has never been finished in the Octagon, but after winning just one of his last four bouts, the lightweight understands how important today’s fight is.

Parke is scheduled to fight Reza Madadi today at UFC Fight Night 76, which will take place in Dublin, Ireland. The bout is Parke’s third of 2015, as the Northern Ireland fighter was decisioned by Gleison Tibau and Francisco Trinaldo earlier this year.

Although both fights were extremely competitive, and Parke lost them via split decision, he recently told UFC.com the following:

“There’s no point in hiding it because if you’re hiding it you’re only lying to yourself,” Parke said, while discussing what’s on the line at UFC FN 76. “Everyone knows it. I know it, I understand it, I’m not stupid. You could argue the case that some of the decisions could have went my way, but there’s no chip on my shoulder. I’m not going into the fight thinking ‘I should have won the last one, I should have a win on my record with the two fights in Brazil.’ There’s no way I’m going to be thinking like that. The only thing that I’m thinking of is the performance, and I know whenever I put on a good performance, I’ll win the fight, no problem.

“The UFC’s not all about putting on split decision wins or getting close wins,” Parke added. “They want you to go in there and completely dominate your opponent and smash him. That’s the name of the game. If you want the big fight to move up the ladder, they want you to do that.”

The 28 year-old has gone 4-2-1 in official UFC action and won TUF Smashes in 2012.