Amsterdam, Holland - When Team England first took the M-1 Challenge stage on April 29 at Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan, it was an underdog against Team Japan heading into their best-of-five series. But it was only an underdog to everyone but Team England.

Despite the fact that England had never previously competed in the M-1 Challenge, Ian "M-16" Butlin, the self-proclaimed best lightweight fighter in the U.K., boasted to a Japanese audience at a local press conference that England was going to shut out Team Japan by a score of 5-0.

Most in the audience didn't offer a reaction to Butlin's claim, dismissing it as an irrational display of arrogance. But to Team England, it was nothing more than an expression of confidence. The high level of self-belief allowed the Brits to come pretty close to making Butlin's prognostication completely accurate after they defeated the Japanese by a 4-1 score.

"We were ecstatic over the incredible performance of Team England in Japan last month," said team manager and Cage Warriors UK matchmaker Ian Dean. "We all felt we could get the win but to win 4-1 in Japan against a very skilled Japanese side is a great achievement for any team, let alone a team in their first ever M-1 Challenge bout."

With a 1-0 team record in the M-1 Challenge, England has its sites on moving to 2-0 when it faces Team France on Friday, June 5 in Kansas City, Kansas at the Memorial Hall.

On Monday, Dean revealed to www.M-1Global.com the first four members selected to represent Team England on June 5 vs. France and to the surprise of no one, four of the five members who competed in Japan are back. The lone fighter not returning is light heavyweight Tom Blackledge, who was just recently scratched due to injury.

While Dean has yet to secure a replacement for Blackledge, he confirmed that Butlin (6-7), welterweight Simon Phillips (7-2), middleweight Matt Thorpe (11-7), and heavyweight Rob Broughton (9-4-1).

Despite his bold proclamation before the Japan event, Butlin was the line British fighter not to notch a victory at Differ Ariake. Following his armbar submission loss to Luiz Andrada, Butlin will look to get back on the winning track against Makhtar Gueye (4-4).

Dean believes that Butlin's strong competitive nature is a key to the strong chemistry that exists amongst the England team.