Tuco Tokkos is waiting for his call from the UFC.
Tokkos (7-2) won the Fury FC light heavyweight championship on March 27 at Fury FC 59 when he knocked out Ty Flores in the first round.
TUCOOOOOO!!!#FuryFC59 pic.twitter.com/EUkJnLrgzC
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) March 27, 2022
It was a very long 12 weeks for Tokkos. He was originally supposed to fight Flores in February; however, the fight kept getting pushed back further and further. Because of the long fight camp, Tokkos felt like he was over-trained when he stepped into the cage.
“If I’m being completely honest, I actually felt like sh*t after the weigh-ins and the day of the fight. I don’t know if it was a combination of being a bit burned out and over-trained from the long training camp,” Tokkos told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview. “I ended up fighting almost six weeks later than I was originally scheduled for but I never took my foot off the gas. I never stopped training. So I was a little over-trained, a little bit drained, and with the weigh-in, I don’t know, on fight day, I just woke up I felt a bit weak, tired.”
It didn’t matter if Tokkos felt weak and tired as he knocked out his opponent regardless. The 31-year old has been on the UFC’s radar for a minute now, and with his most recent win, he should be on his way. UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard was in attendance for Tokkos’ fight and even wanted him to headline FAC 12: Lookin’ For a Fight in February.
While Tokkos isn’t the type to sit and wait for an opportunity, his teammates have told him to wait for the UFC call.
“Now it’s a ‘we wait’ kind of thing. I don’t know; it’s looking good. As soon as I got to the gym, all of my teammates in the UFC were like ‘you don’t fight again until you’re in the UFC.’ They’re like, ‘don’t even think about fighting, and now you just wait.’ It’s gonna be summer, maybe after summer, maybe short notice before then. But guys like Gilbert Burns told me, ‘bro, you just wait now.’ So, I guess that’s what I do. Sounds good,” Tokkos said.
Tokkos is used to short notice fights, so he doesn’t care if that’s the route he takes to get into the UFC. As long as he is in shape, he’s down. Of course, every fighter would like a nice eight-week camp, but to him, he doesn’t care. He’s a fighter and loves to fight.
In a thin light heavyweight division, Tokkos should be joining the UFC roster sooner rather than later.
Watch the rest of our interview with Tuco Tokkos above, where he talks about his win, what he wants next, and discusses his teammate’s upcoming fights.
