Chepe Mariscal is quickly becoming an issue for the Featherweight division.
The 31-year-old will face Damon Jackson in the co-main event of this weekend’s (August 10) UFC Fight Night card.
Ahead of the clash, Mariscal spoke with MMAJunkie. Currently holding a perfect 3-0 record under the UFC banner, Mariscal admitted it is difficult not to get carried away and look towards the top of the division but he’s happy to be squaring off a well known name like Jackson. He said:
“Of course (it’s hard), man. If you're not in it to be a champion, like, then I don't know why you're in this business after all. I in it to become a champion, a UFC champion, obviously, I said yes to everybody, even Dan Ige, I said yes to anybody that kind of fell off.
“But I got a lot of no's and so it's like it's hard to really push it and try to get to that belt when guys are saying no and I was glad that Damon Jackson said yes because he's a guy on that path. That guy's obviously won some big fights, he's put (in) some great performances, he has a nice record, he's a vet.
“He's a guy who kind of went through this system of, he has to be LFA champ, he has to be this has to be that and then go to the UFC. I kind of fought all the gladiators outside of the UFC before they went into the UFC.
“So I felt like, okay, we had different routes and stuff like that. But you know, now we're here.”
Although entirely focused on the task at hand, if a late change in opponent saw him facing the likes of Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, ‘Machine Gun’ would jump at the chance.
“Nah man, I'd challenge him (Topuria) now if I could. If Damon Jackson falls out and Ilia Topuria jumps in, f**k I'm down. Those are guys that I look at all the time. It was Volkanovski at the time, and I was watching film, how to beat him. All those guys, like even at Lightweight, I was like, what if I win the belt at Featherweight then I fight at Lightweight. I like playing those kind of things, I fought Trevor Peak at Lightweight and yeah, I just, I love the fight game. I look at it as, all you can do is keep it real in this game because if you try to come in it as fake as you want, the realness will come out for sure.”
The Featherweight division is arguably one of the most stacked in the UFC right now. In order to make sure he is not overlooked and left waiting an extended period of time to get his shot at the rankings, Mariscal believes he not only needs to keep picking up wins inside the cage, but make noise outside of it too. He said:
“I think it is a blend of it all. I really talk to my corner, I have a partner who's been fighting too, so it's like jotting things down, just getting ready for fight per fight, you know?
“I could say, ‘Yeah, in five years I'll be a UFC champ.’ But I know I got to worry about the next day so I look at it as just keep on staying in the grind, until I obviously get to the top ten and then make a little more noise and hopefully get a title fight.”
