Las Vegas, NV – In MMA a diverse skill-set is key if you want to make, not only a title run of any kind, but a career run in a sport where the average length of a fighters career is rather short.
UFC featherweight Damon Jackson defeated Kamuela Kirk via submission in the second round of their bout at UFC Vegas 50 on Saturday night.
Jackson (20-4) felt the need to focus more on his career coming into this fight even with such a heavy load outside of the cage.
“A lot of people don’t know my full story and stuff like that, but you know I have four daughters. I’ve been with the same woman for 14 years. I have a full-time family outside of MMA. When things aren’t going my way it’s because I’m focused on my kids, I’m focused on what needs to be done there,” Jackson said to the media in his post-fight scrum.
“At this point in my life I’m feeling pretty secure about where I’m at with my family, where I’m at with my job my career and then with the UFC. Things just kind of click and it just happens like that. I think every fighter kind of cycles through your ups and downs. One fight you’ll be on point, the next fight you just don’t look as good. It’s really just a matter of things clicking at the right time and right now is my time.”
Jackson was able to secure an arm-triangle finish against a high-level grappler in Kirk. He spoke on the game plan and how he felt coming into the fight.
“I feel great. You have a game plan every fight and go through it your whole camp. Every day it’s like the same thing. It was just nice to have that exact game plan in camp the whole camp, never changed it once, and it worked out,” said Jackson.
Now riding a two-fight win streak Jackson wants something bigger for his next walk to the octagon.
“I try to say it without blasting any one particular name, but I want someone in the top 15 or in the top 20 that is the hype man. Not that I’m calling him out I just want to fight those guys. I want to be in the top 15 this year. I don’t want to sit around and wait for a 6-month, do a 3-month camp. I hate doing full camps. I want to do 2 and 3-week camps. I want to take short-notice fights and be the guy that steps up,” Jackson said.
“I’m training my ass off every day, I’ve got a lot of things going on and for me to set aside 3 or 4 months of just focusing on this one thing, it’s kind of annoying to me. So I would much rather take those 3-4 week notice fights and get it going.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 50 post-fight media scrum with Damon Jackson above.
