Josh Fremd feels like he still has to prove himself.
After a series of ups and downs, Factory X’s Fremd (9-2) finally makes his octagon debut at UFC 273, and it is on 11 days’ notice.
While a full eight-week camp would be every fighter’s preference for their debut, for Fremd, it didn’t matter because he was in shape, and he knew the business.
“Yeah, I kind of figured [it would be a short notice fight]. I know how this game works,” Fremd told Cageside Press ahead of the fight. “And, you know, I’m not some highly touted prospect coming out of Ireland or anything like that. So I’m not going to get a long camp. But luckily for me, I aligned with a group of guys here, at Factory X, who, we don’t do camps anyway, we’re living the martial arts lifestyle. We’re training every single day we’re in the gym. This is our main priority. I was ready for eight days, I was ready for four days. It wouldn’t matter to me.”
Fremd faces Anthony Hernandez, who has had two other opponent changes and is coming off a year-long layoff. Fremd likes the match-up and said that he predicted that he would have to face Hernandez at some point.
The 28-year old thinks that fight on Saturday will be a scrap, and it will be Hernandez that will shoot first.
“I think we’re both scrappy, and I think we both have a lot of heart and a lot of grit,” Fremd said. “I think that he is going to be more than willing to stand up and trade with me. And then I feel like once he feels what I’m coming with, I don’t think he’s gonna want to anymore, and he might start wrestling, and I definitely believe that I have the better wrestling… I believe it’s going to be violent.”
While he has been a favorite in most of his fights, even the one that he lost last year, Fremd feels like he has to prove himself. In his UFC debut, he has to prove that he deserves to be in the UFC.
“I don’t plan on taking a step back. I’m gonna go out there and fight. I finally made it to where I’ve been telling people that I believe I belong. And now I got to go out there, and I just got to prove it once more that I deserve this seat at the table,” Fremd stated.
Watch the rest of our interview with Josh Fremd above. Fremd vs. Hernandez takes place on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at UFC 273 in Jacksonville, Florida and can be streamed on ESPN +.
