Yorgan De Castro is one of the fastest rising heavyweights on the UFC roster. The undefeated fighter steps in to the octagon next on March 28 at UFC on ESPN 8 in Columbus, when he faces former NFL All Pro Greg Hardy.
De Castro (6-0) made a huge splash in his UFC debut when he Knocked Out Justin Tafa in his opponent’s back yard of Melbourne, Australia at UFC 243. De Castro recently explained to use just how special this win was. “If you wrote a script it couldn’t have gone better than that, it was awesome. We fly over to Australia and not just get the knock out, get the bonus.”
Things haven’t always been bright and sunny for the Cape Verde native. He was 2-4 as an amateur fighter with not many eyes on him when he decided to make the jump to the big leagues. Asked about the reason behind such as drastic turn around, Yorgan explained that “I do believe that all of the losses I had as an amateur helped me out to this day. The fact that I don’t wanna lose any more, it makes me work extra hard. So my discipline and commitment changed when I turned pro.”
His UFC Columbus opponent, Greg Hardy, is well known for the legal trouble he has been in outside of the cage and gridiron. For Yorgan de Castro, however, Hardy’s personal struggles don’t motivate him any more than any other fighter.
“I don’t like to feed off any negativity or any hate or emotion, that will take you off of what really matters,” de Castro said. “I wanna go in there get the job done and move on, I don’t care about Hardy.”
While Hardy is clearly an elite athlete, going the distance with Alexander Volkov recently, that hasn’t effected Yorgan’s mindset on what he expects to go down on March 28.
“I think I’m a better fighter to be honest, I think I’m a better kickboxer, I’m a better wrestler, I’m a better grappler then him,” de Castro observed. “He got the reach, the height and one more thing I definitely have more heart then him so I am fighting for the right reasons. I’m willing to go out there and I don’t think he’s willing go out there, I’m willing to trade punches and go out cold, lets see if he can do that.”
In his last two outings, Yorgan de Castro has KO’d both opponents with his right hook. Just don’t expect the KO artist to go head hunting trying to land that shot on Hardy. “I won’t be looking for that because I know he has good coaching and they will definitely tell him not to circle to my right, de Castro said. “But I have different weapons and I actually hope he circles different ways cause I have different things for him.”
As far as Yorgan’s official prediction goes, he explained that “I think I am going to finish him with a leg kick. He moves good but he does not lift his front leg so I’m going to kick that front leg and I’m gonna kick it a lot and I don’t care, I’m just gonna cover myself and kick.”
Make sure to tune in on March 28 when these two heavyweights throw down at UFC on ESPN 8. The card goes down at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, and is headlined by another heavyweight showdown in Jaizinho Rozenstruik vs. Francis Ngannou.
Check out our full interview with Yorgan de Castro below!
