After flirting with the heavyweight division earlier this year, Ovince Saint Preux has opted to stay the course at light heavyweight for the time being. “OSP” returns this weekend in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 16, where he takes on Jamahal Hill — the second straight Contender Series product the former Strikeforce fighter has faced.
“He’s a young hungry fighter,” Saint Preux (25-14) described Hill during the UFC Vegas 16 media day this week. Speaking to Cageside Press, the 37-year old went on to note that “You usually have fighters that come in, they’re young, they’re hungry. You win your first couple bouts or whatnot, you feel really good, you feel unstoppable. But you’ve got to remember that I’ve been in this game a while too. He does have a lot of threats, but overall, I think I have more threats than he does.”
And while it does seem like he’s the name veteran being paired up against up-and-comers lately — first Alonzo Menifield, and now Jamahal Hill — Ovince Saint Preux wasn’t about to shy away from what he sees as a favorable match-up.
“If I have a chance to put on a good show and potentially have a really good bonus out of that, I’m not going to complain about it,” Saint Preux stated. “This is the fight game, and if you tell me to fight somebody, and to fight a favorable fight towards my end, I’m definitely going to end up taking it.”
OSP is all about opportunities, it seems. He showed that by taking a heavyweight fight against Ben Rothwell earlier this year, losing a close split decision. Ahead of UFC Vegas 16, Saint Preux isn’t ready to close the door on heavyweight.
“If the opportunity presented itself, I’d do it again. It was fun not to cut weight,” he admitted. “But it was a little different, because some of the shots I put him down with — most light heavyweights would have stayed on the ground. You can see that from my last fight.”
In the end, Saint Preux added that “it was a good learning experience. Would I do it again? Definitely.”
With Saint Preux missing weight for the fight with Hill this weekend, maybe that will come sooner rather than later.
Watch the full UFC Vegas 16 media day scrum with Ovince Saint Preux above. The event takes place this Saturday, December 5 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
