Kingdom MMA talk to Josh Sampo before his fight at UFC 170
by Chris Marzella @ChrisMarzella
The UFC flyweight division has seen a drastic improvement over the last six months or so, with fresh blood adding depth to the division and giving Sean Shelby more options with who he matches up with champ Demetrious Johnson.
At UFC 170 on Saturday night two more flyweights will battle it out to climb into the championship discussion as Zach "Fun Size" Makovsky meets Josh "The Gremlin" Sampo in Las Vegas.
Makovsky was impressive in his UFC debut, defeating veteran Scott Jorgensen in a unanimous decision back at UFC on Fox 9 in December.
Sampo was equally as impressive in his own UFC debut as he took a hard fought submission win over Ryan Benoit back at TUF 18 Finale in November.
Speaking to KingdomMMA.co.uk Sampo played down the significance of fighting on the major platform that is Fox Sports 1, saying:
Sampo's UFC debut was as a late replacement despite turning in a FOTN performance and he expects no less heading into battle with Makovsky on Saturday night. He said:"This fight is just the next fight in my fight career.""If I was the first fight or the main event, I'm still going to fight exactly the same and leave it all in the cage so personally it's not that big of a deal other than friends and family getting to watch from home."
Sampo had trouble making the flyweight limit for his fight with Benoit and found himself ineligible for the FOTN bonus. However, he has played down the significance of loosing such a large amount of money in his mind. He said:"I feel my style has all that and more to be fight of the night, but your opponent has to bring an equally good fight to you to make the fight eligible to receive such honors.""I feel this fight has all the ingredients to be that. We'll all have to see what happens, but I think that it has a strong chance."
Sampo fights out of St.Charles MMA and has worked meticulously with his team to formulate a plan to negotiate his way past Makovsky. He said:"The Lord works in mysterious ways, and from what I've seen my opponent (Benoit) needed that money much more than I did. He's a very deserving guy and I'm glad the money went to a good place in taking care of his family and child.""When it comes down to it, I would have paid that amount for that experience again and again."
Despite being an ever expanding division, a couple of wins strung together and anyone can be in contention for a crack at Demetrious Johnson. A win here could propel either man into the upper echelons of the rankings. Sampo said:"My coaches do an amazing job of breaking down his game and coming up with a good game plan to negate anything he might throw at us. I feel we match up well in all areas of skill. It's going to be a battle of nutrition and will."
"I never give predictions. All I can guarantee is on February 22nd I'm going to bring everything I've got and leave it all in the cage. A hundred miles an hour from bell to bell. Zach can expect fifteen minutes of hell from me."
Sampo has already ruffled some feathers in his short UFC stint, weirdly calling out "Uncle Creepy" Ian McCall with a bizarre "moustache battle" challenge. Sampo said of the call out:"Ultimately that's not up to me, all I can do is show up and fight my butt off. When the dust settles I'll let you know where I stand.""I feel Zach is an awesome competitor and this is going to be a great test telling me where I am in the flyweight division."
UFC 170 takes place Saturday February 22 from the Mandalay Bay Events Centre, Las Vegas, NV."I have no ill feelings toward Ian.""He's been one of the top flyweights since I began my career. I wanted to fight him then and want to even more now. I want to fight the best. I figured bringing his stache into the mix would get some attention on the fight and could push it into actually happening. Hopefully this is a fight that will come to fruition in the near future."
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