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The UK's premier MMA gym has added another top UFC name to its roster after the Wolfslair Academy revealed to Eurosport-Yahoo! they have taken over the management of French heavyweight Cheick Kongo.

The news comes just a fortnight after Wolfslair announced that former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson had joined the team after his split with former trainer Juanito Ibarra in July.

Jackson and Kongo join fellow UFC stars Mike Bisping and Paul Kelly at Wolfslair, now undoubtedly the leading European gym in the sport.

Co-owner Anthony McGann told us that their signings were a natural move - and one which he promised would benefit their careers.

"With Mike fighting so often in America, we made a lot of great friends," McGann said. "Quinton had a split from his coach and he knew what a good job we did with Bisping so it was a natural move for him.

"His old management weren't on great terms with the UFC, but we are very UFC-friendly here and have a lot of time for (UFC president) Dana White so we stepped in.

"It was the same with Cheick. He was having some problems negotiating his new contract with the UFC and was looking for somewhere to train so it was an easy decision for him to join his mates."

Kongo is looking to take his UFC career to the next level after stalling somewhat over the last ten months. A breakthrough three-round destruction of Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at UFC 75 was followed by an uninspiring decision defeat at the hands of Heath Herring in March, although the "French Sensation" rebounded with a first-round stoppage of Dan Evensen in August.

McGann admits that the towering heavyweight has not looked at his best over his last two fights, but is confident a move to Wolfslair can put things right.

"Cheick made short work out of Cro Cop, but could have been better against Herring. He took apart a good opponent last fight out, but we think he can get a lot better.

"He has been training with Quinton for his last couple of fights, and we know that has not been a happy camp. We think he will be a happier fighter here; he is only a couple of hours from his home in Paris and we will be taking all the other distractions like sponsorship out of his hands."

Kongo was close to signing a fight against Brock Lesnar before Randy Couture's return closed off that avenue, and McGann said he hopes the UFC match up his new man with a striker rather than a wrestler for his next fight.

"Cheick excels when he fights strikers so if he is going to step up there and keep improving, we know we need to improve his ground game. We are very pro-UFC and they want him to work on his ground game; we hope we can get a striker for his next fight in the meantime."

It is a big few weeks for Wolfslair, with Bisping preparing to headline UFC 89 on October 22 in a middleweight bout against Chris Leben, while up-and-coming welterweight Kelly meets dangerous striker Marcus Davis on the same bill.

McGann said the arrivals of Kongo and Jackson, along with some M1 fighters coming over from Holland, will create one of the strongest camps ever assembled this side of the Atlantic.

"We have brought in some specialists as well for the next four weeks, so as far as camps go it will be one of the best ever. UFC 89 is a big night for us; one of our men headlining and another on the bill as well, both against good American fighters.

"We want to show the rest of the world that we are up there with the USA in terms of the quality of our gyms and that in terms of the UFC, we are up there with the top two or three teams in the world."

Alex Sharratt / Eurosport