Alex Garcia, a UFC welterweight MMA fighter, cannot understand why he needs to wait for several months before getting another scheduled fight, unlike the other fighters. In fact, Garcia needed to wait for five months before he got a call, and now he doesn’t want it to happen again.
In a recent interview, Garcia revealed some realizations he had about his career last year while he was waiting for his next call.
Last UFC 189, Garcia impressively won over Mike Swick by a decisive win. Normally, a fighter gets a call right after impressive performances like this. However, Garcia didn’t receive any call for several months after that. Garcia said that he was in shape to get into a next fight then, which made the situation more frustrating. Aside from this, the money that he should’ve earned also went down.
“Hell yeah, it’s very frustrating. People are just fighting back-to-back. I don’t want to be a part-time fighter. I want to fight year-round, if possible – as long as my body allows me to fight,” Garcia said during a recent interview with MMAjunkie.
The waiting time lasted another month before he got the call from the promotion company telling him he has another scheduled fight. The 28-year-old Dominican Republic native MMA fighter is now slated to go against Sean Strickland this coming UFC Fight Night 83. Strickland, who has a record of 16-1 MMA and 3-1 UFC, will meet Garcia this coming February 21st in Pittsburgh. The fight will be aired at FOX Sports 1 as the preliminary fight before the main card airs.
As for Garcia, who is holding a record of 13-2 MMA and 3-1 UFC, is hoping that he will receive more phone calls after this.
“I would like another three fights. This year, I want to have four fights. I want to be in the top 10, top 15 this year. That’s my goal. Hopefully I don’t sit out for six months. I could fight two months later, or even one month later,” he said.
Garcia’s opponent, Strickland, also revealed that he was in the same situation back then when recently showed up in the UFC Fight Night 71 event. He said that the promotion is trying to match the fighters that are fighting on the same schedule, but the schedule of bookings is commonly interrupted due to fighters withdrawing from the scheduled bouts because of injuries.
“I’m 28 now, I’m still young, and bro, I don’t want to fight once every six months. I want to compete every three months at the latest. I’m down to compete any time. I’m ready to jump in any time, even last-minute calls,” Garcia said.
Strickland also won his latest fight after an unfortunate loss, just like Garcia. The MMA fighter lost to Santiago Ponzinibbio while Garcia lost to Neil Magny.
“He’s been good so far in his career. I don’t think he has a lot of weaknesses, but I work my ass off to beat him in every arena. It’s as simple as that,” Garcia revealed about his upcoming opponent.
For now, he is just focused on winning his fight against Strickland as the victory might put his name on the spotlight.
“I’m happy. A win over Sean can put my name up there,” he added.