Issue 185

December 2019

The UFC welterweight and NJ native on home state fights and tackling an ‘idol turned rival’

You’ve just beaten Salim Touahri. What went into the preparation for this fight and how happy are you with how it played out?

Once I saw them announce that Jersey card I had a feeling I would get on it. I was mentally preparing myself and preparing my body, too. It was a short notice thing. That worked nice for me because I am a notorious over trainer. I could go hard in this shorter window rather than extending it over eight to ten weeks like a normal camp. It was fun, man. I am really happy I got the win. I am proud of the fight. I see a lot of mistakes I made. Everything that he did to me was everything I did to myself. He was trying to be overaggressive. He was trying to move off his back. I should have just been more patient. I think it was good for me to get the fifteen minutes in there. Again, I’m proud of it but I should have finished that fight at some point. I am excited to keep improving. I feel better and better every time I am in there.

That was your first UFC fight in front of your home state crowd. You said you fought in front of your people, being only 30 minutes from home. Looking back what are your lasting memories?

I will never forget that night. It was unbelievable. Even during the fight when you get that tunnel vision and you are focused I heard them chanting ‘Mickey Gall’. I heard them chanting my freaking name. That is an arena I went to as a kid and over my entire life to watch sporting events. That whole place was screaming and chanting my name. Every time I hit him the crowd would erupt. It was great. I am really grateful. I appreciate my Jersey people. It was a really special night for sure. I’m still riding high off of it. 

You have trained all over the country but for this camp you stayed closer to home in New Jersey. How great was it working alongside legend Jim Miller and company? 

I started training with Jim and Dan at AMA Fight Club when I was 19. When I became a UFC fan I was probably 15 or 16 years old. My favorite fighters were Jim and Dan Miller because they are my Jersey guys and I also liked Chuck Liddell. I was a fan of them and then I went and found where they were training and that’s where I went to train. I always trained at Gracie New Jersey but they were at AMA and I went over there. I wanted to train with the best. I was able to help Dan with his camps. He had like eight crazy fights at 185. He fought Michael Bisping, Chael Sonnen, Demian Maia, just the Who’s Who. He dropped decisions to all of them but all of them were tough fights and nobody took him out. They are both like big brothers to me. To be able to share the card with Jim and get wins in our home state was fucking amazing.  

You had a tough weight cut and dehydration and some other scary stuff for the Diego Sanchez fight. What toll did that take on your body?

It wasn’t really the weight cut. That was just a normal weight cut. I had been a little sick leading up to that fight. My body was just losing water I was excreting water. I was throwing up and shitting. I was dehydrated. It was kind of making the weight cut easy because I was low on weight but it was a little too much for my body. I guess the last few touches just pushed me over the edge. I had kidney failure, I never had anything like that happen before. It fucking sucked. It was unfortunate. It should have been a nice fight for me to take out a legend but I got sick. Shit happens. Everything happens for a reason. I know after that it makes me even braver. I am even more fearless. What am I going to worry about? I faced that! In the first minute of the fight I was struggling for balance. I could barely keep myself on my own feet. I was screwed. I know it is never going to be like that again. I get to go in there and fight and feel great. I want to put on a show and do my thing. 

Are you looking to run back the fight with Diego? Are you willing to entertain that idea? 

I would do it for sure. I just want to keep fighting and keep getting better and better at this and be the champ. 

You have said that you want your best 15 minutes to be in that Octagon when the cage door shuts. How do you get closer to that becoming a reality each and every day?

That’s the whole job. That is everything you do. Everything you do has to be geared to having a great 15 minutes on that day. Right now I want a great 15 minutes that Saturday Night on December 7. Leading up to it I am just going to make sure I am the strongest, fastest and best version of myself. If I kick my ass every day and make myself uncomfortable enough every day everything is going to get better.

As you mentioned, you have a huge fight coming up on December 7 with the legend and former welterweight champion, Carols Condit. How did that scrap come together?

I texted Sean Shelby and said I wanted to fight on the Madison Square Garden card. He said I could do that or I could fight Carols Condit four weeks later. I was like ‘Fuck yeah! Let’s do that!’ Fuck the Garden for this one! I am good on that. I will go to D.C. I have never been there. I will go down there and whoop some ass in the capital and take out a legend. I am the new Natural Born Killer. Me and all of my people grew up on Carlos Condit. We have mad respect for him. It’s an ‘idols become rivals’ situation. I looked up to him and now it’s time to take him out.