Aaron Wilkinson

Aaron Marc Wilkinson (born January 31, 1987) is an English professional mixed martial artist who competes in the lightweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2008, Wilkinson mostly competed in the English domestic circuit, before signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship to appear on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck.

Background
Wilkinson comes from Irlam, in Greater Manchester. His nickname, "The Daywalker" was created by his coach, who described him as it at a weigh-in for a fight, due to Wilkinson's pale complexion and Sukata's belief that Wilkinson resembled a character from the Blade films. Wilkinson trains at the Wolfslair gym in Widnes, England and has been training since 2006 after watching UFC and Cage Rage fights.

Domestic circuit
Wilkinson began his professional mixed martial arts career against Neil Fraser at Cage Gladiators 9. Late in the second round, Wilkinson was able to secure a guillotine choke to force the tapout. Wilkinson stayed with the Cage Gladiators promotion for the Cage Gladiators 10 event. Wilkinson faced Murad Utsaev, defeating him via unanimous decision. After two successive rear naked choke losses, Wilkinson went on a three fight winning streak, claiming two submission victories and a decision victory. Following this, Wilkinson faced Tim Newman at OMMAC 3, losing via armbar in the second round. His final fight on the English circuit was a submission victory against Jacek Toczydlowski in under 1 minute.

The Ultimate Fighter
Wilkinson then signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship to appear on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck.

Wilkinson's first fight took place on the debut episode, where he faced Mike Richman to get into the house. Wilkinson pulled out a dominant performance and showed decent ground game, prompting a small compliment from Josh Koscheck. After two rounds, Wilkinson would take the unanimous decision victory to move into the house. In the second episode, team picks were made. Josh Koscheck picked Wilkinson as his sixth pick (eleventh overall).

Wilkinson competed in his preliminary round matchup against Michael Johnson in the third episode. After some early striking exchanges in the first round, Wilkinson was able to take Johnson down and utilise ground-and-pound punches and elbows to see out the first round. In the second round, Johnson was able to land an early superman punch, as well as a takedown. After takedowns were achieved by both men, Johnson was able to stuff a final attempt and took the second round on the judges scorecards. Going into a sudden victory round, Johnson attacked quickly, taking Wilkinson down before and hitting him with big punches. Johnson would eventually secure Wilkinson's back to sink in a rear naked choke and progress to the next round. Mike Tyson, who was in attendance, later said that Johnson's speed won the fight, though Wilkinson was the better boxer. Josh Koscheck would also claim that the fight shouldn't have gone to third round, due to his belief that Wilkinson won the opening two. Due to his performance, Wilkinson was selected as the "wildcard" pick, allowing him another opportunity to get to the quarter finals. His opponent was his teammate, the show's number one pick, Marc Stevens.

Prior to the fight, Wilkinson received news that his grandmother had died. Despite that, he went into the fight, where he would lose the first round despite ending in top position. In the second round, Stevens was caught in a guillotine choke after attempting a takedown; the second time that had occurred in two fights. Stevens tapped out and Wilkinson advanced to the quarter-finals, where he was selected to fight Kyle Watson. Wilkinson was defeated by Watson via first round rear naked choke. The loss knocked Wilkinson out of the tournament once again. Wilkinson described the performance as one of the worst of his career

Ultimate Fighting Championship
Wilkinson lost his UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck Finale against Cody McKenzie. He was defeated by McKenzie via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:03 of round one. He was then subsequently released from the promotion following the loss.

BAMMA
Wilkinson faced Shane Omer at BAMMA 6 on May 21, 2011. He lost by KO after being caught with a large left hand.

Cage Warriors
On July 21, 2012, Wilkinson made his Cage Warriors debut against Leigh Cohoon, winning via rear naked choke in round one.