When the UFC leaves North America and crosses the Atlantic for the United Kingdom and Ireland, the cards tend to be littered with locals. These fighters were thought of as a second class fighters compared to their North and South America counterparts. But with three victories by three young and promising U.K. fighters, perhaps the sport has turned a corner on the Isle nation.

For several years the only bright spot coming out of England was Michael Bisping. Bisping became the UFC's U.K. poster boy, breeding resentment and criticism over favoritism within the MMA community (including me). Still his career has been a success and now he will be featured as a coach on the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter.

In time we may look back on UFC 95 and see it as a watershed moment for mixed martial arts in the United Kingdom. Three victories by U.K. natives Dan Hardy, Terry Etim and Paul Kelly, indicate that the future is promising for English MMA. 

It is still important to point out that the competition for these fighters was not very difficult. Their three opponents, Rory Markham, Brian Cobb and Troy Mandaloniz,  had a collective UFC record of 2-0 going into Saturday's fights. They finished the night a combined 2-3 in the UFC. 

So perhaps that watershed moment is still a ways off. Yet a trend is beigning to present itself. For instance, when Quinton Jackson went to England to train at Wolfslair gym, many thought he was downgrading his camp, further reducing his chances of defeating Wanderlei Silva. After Jackson upset Silva I wrote,

"Here is a question for the MMA world: is Wolfslair and English MMA rising in prominence or are they the beneficiary of a top fighter, In Quniton 'Rampage' Jackson?"

That hasn't been answered quite yet, but we do know that in order for English MMA to achieve parity with the North and South American MMA, they will need top level gyms and trainers, not just fighters. 

Two upcoming events will be a significant gauge for the differences between fighters from across the Atlantic. Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping and The Ultimate Fighter U.S. vs. U.K. If Bisping and the U.K. fighters pull away with a decisive victory that might be further evidence of an improvement across the Atlantic. 

However we won't know for sure until an English fighter wins a title in the UFC, similar to how we weren't sure what quality of fighters TUF was producing until Forrest Griffin defeated Quintion 'Rampage' Jackson for the light heavyweight title.