Las Vegas, NV — Flyweight Jordan Espinosa is thrilled to fighting this weekend, and even more so given the high profile of the UFC 259 card.
“This is the kind of stuff I dreamed about before I ever got into the UFC. All my other fights up to this point have been Fight Nights,” Espinosa (15-8, 1NC) exclaimed during the UFC 259 media day this week. “And so this will be my first— I’m not on the pay per view portion, but I’m on a huge card, probably one of the best cards ever. Definitely the biggest of the year so far. So I’m excited.”
UFC 259 is indeed a huge card, topped by a trio of title fights. In the main event, middleweight champ Israel Adesanya moves up to face Jan Blachowicz for light heavyweight gold. Much earlier in the evening, Espinosa faces former flyweight title challenger Tim Elliott.
The high profile of the card “doesn’t add any pressure,” observed Espinosa. Rather, “it makes me more excited. I feel like I’ve been around big names. I’ve been in this for 12 years and I’ve been in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Some of the biggest names in this sport come from out of that town. And I’ve seen them and watched them train.”
With six months since his last fight, including a stretch where he had to overcome COVID-19, Espinosa is more than ready to go. He’s been watching opponent Tim Elliott for a long while, “since before The Ultimate Fighter,” Espinosa noted. So he’s well aware of that “awkward, weird, ugly stand up” the Elliott brings with him. He’s looking forward to a chaotic fight, in fact.
“I like chaos, and I like challenges. I want people to push me because I feel like it brings the best out of me,” said Espinosa. And he has a goal for the fight with Elliott. “In the UFC for sure I know he hasn’t been TKO’d or KO’d so I want to be the first man to stop him.”
Elliott, in fact, has only one TKO loss on his record, well before his UFC runs, back in 2009. If Espinosa pulls that off, it would be quite the statement.
Jordan Espinosa faces Tim Elliott at UFC 259 this Saturday, March 6 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
