Training at American Top Team, Costa will still have Joe Lauzon in his corner.
Randy Costa has been training at an adopted home of late. The UFC bantamweight has been training at American Top Team in Florida, as his usual home at Lauzon’s MMA still is dealing with Massachusetts’ COVID-19 guidelines. With names such as Dustin Poirier, Jorge Masvidal and many more, the amount of fighters at his disposal is not something he is taking for granted.
“The biggest difference I noticed with American Top Team is it’s right down to business as soon as you walk in,” Costa told Cageside Press recently. “It’s literally just business, it’s your job, whereas at Lauzon’s you’ve got more relationships. Neither is better than the other. It’s just two different things, it’s pretty cool.”
Joe Lauzon, a UFC legend and owner of Lauzon’s MMA in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, has been the longtime mentor, coach and manager of Costa. This is the first training camp that the Taunton native is away from Lauzon. But while he’s training in Florida to prep for his fight, there will be some familiar faces in his corner come fight night.
“It’s all public information that there is no location for this UFC card yet,” Costa told us. “I don’t have my corners locked in at the moment because of that. Joe Lauzon will be in my corner 100%. My girlfriend will be in my corner,” Costa continued. “She is an anchor for me, it’ll be the only way I can have her there during fight week. Third corner is TBD, I won’t have that locked down until I have the location. Probably Greg Rebello.”
Although the card does not have an official location yet, Costa isn’t overly focused on where he will be fighting. Instead, his focus is on who he will be fighting. Costa explained that he has been training a lot with Head Coach Mike Brown, and ATT teammate Tony Gravely, to prepare for opponent Journey Newson. Costa promises a peak, top tier version of himself in the cage on September 19, wherever that cage might be.
“I’ve been ready to fight, on weight, for the last eight weeks,” Costa stated. “I’ve never been in better shape. The biggest thing I’ve focused on is not an attribute, it’s overall fitness, my overall fitness is f*cking incredible,” Costa continued. “My mindset is so much better, I’m working so much smarter. I’ve made so many stupid mistakes in my life, I learned from it. I’ve never felt this good going into a fight, I promise you.”
As for what happens on fight night in September, Costa has never had a boring fight in his career, and he doesn’t look to start now.
“My resume speaks for itself, never had a boring fight ever,” Costa explained. “I’m going in there to knock him out with the first punch I’ll throw. This fight can’t be boring, on paper it can’t be boring.”
Catch the full interview with Randy Costa in the video above. He also gives his picks for UFC 252, and praises Sean O’Malley, a fight he’d love to have one day.
