Issue 183

October 2019

The Ecuadorean bantamweight opens up about making it to the UFC and following his dream to emulate GSP

You had your fair share of road blocks prior to finally stepping in the cage at UFC 239 to fight late replacement, Nohelin Hernandez. How did you work around those problems and ultimately achieve the outcome you desired that night?

It was pretty hard mentally. It was really tough. The changing of opponents, I mean, I am human. At some point you break. I was over it. I just wanted to let it [the opportunity to fight] go. Even when I told them I was out they still worked and found somebody for me to fight a few days later. I was like ‘Fuck it. Let’s go. I’m ready.’ 

You ended up picking up a second-round rear naked choke submission victory over Nohelin Hernandez. What are your takeaways from the fight and the finish?

The guy came to fight. When you fight guys like that they have nothing to lose. They are doing a favor for the promotion so you think they are going to get a second chance no matter what. So, they have nothing to lose. When you don’t have pressure and you are making more money than you would have in any other fight, everything is great for him coming in. My coach said I had to stay sharp. He said that he had nothing to lose and that he was going to come to fight like a dog. I was able to stay composed and sharp in the good and bad moments. I was a little bit faster. I was a little bit stronger. I was a little bit smarter that night and I got the job done. 

Your ground game was on full display. What did it feel like to pick up the submission victory in the manner that you did?

In the first round I wasn’t able to submit him. It was just transition after transition. I have posts of me taking peoples backs, putting the body triangle, punching them first. A week or two ago, I was training this exact scenario over at the headquarters, the training center. You don’t win by luck. You win because you prepare yourself. Everything I did is just a matter of repetition and constantly being in the gym learning.

There was news that broke that King of the Cage blocked Drako Rodriguez’s opportunity to step in and fight you that night. Do you have any thoughts on that situation and how it played out?

I heard the story. If what the promoter said is true, they are investing in him, giving him fights, building his record and from what I heard he was supposed to fight a good grappler just a few weeks before that UFC event. He pulled out with injury and then all of a sudden he was ready to fight me. You have to see both sides. I feel bad for the kid. He’s not going to be in the UFC for now. The other side is that the promoter invested in him and then he does take a fight because he’s scared or insecure, then when the opportunity comes up to fight in the UFC, he’ll fight anyone. I don’t know. I’m not a promoter. That has nothing to do with me. That was just more stress on me. 

You grew up in a very challenging environment. You told yourself as a child that you would grow up and be somebody. Do you remember that specific conversation you had with yourself?

When I was trying to get in the UFC and just training to be here, I would close my eyes and ask God to let me fulfill my dreams. I wanted to keep going, keep training and keep grinding. I wasn’t going to stop for anything. Now I can look back and see that I wasn’t going to stop until I got here. Every time things were getting dark or I didn’t think the UFC was going to call me I just kept thinking it was going to happen. It’s just a matter of convincing yourself it can happen. If you can convince yourself that something is going to happen that is the best guide you can have inside of you. The best conversations you should have in your entire life is when you are talking to yourself in your head. You can either think negative and go all bad or you can think beautiful, positive stuff and just feed yourself whenever you want. I believe you will achieve that. I am the perfect example of that. I’m from Ecuador. Who was supposed to sign with the UFC from Ecuador? There are not very many fighters from Ecuador right now. If you commit and put all of your heart and energy into that, it will come true. That’s what I did. 

What fighter specifically sparked that fire and fueled that drive to become a UFC fighter yourself?

To me, it was GSP. I shaved my head. I tried to fight like him – landing Superman punches and head kicks. He was the guy who pumped me up. Every time he was fighting in Canada the crowd was going crazy! He didn’t need to dress crazy or talk shit to be a fucking superhero in his country. I was like, ‘That’s me right there.’ Later on, Max Holloway is another guy like that for me. He went on that winning streak but I don’t think people saw that coming. By the time he beat Aldo people already knew he was a bad motherfucker. When he lost those two decisions to Conor and Bermudez, and after that he hadn’t lost until the Poirier fight, I don’t think people saw him going on that run and that winning streak. After I lost those two fights in Brazil by decision, I told myself ‘Just be Max Holloway.’ Two losses, just bounce back and just fucking go all in.