Las Vegas, NV – UFC welterweight Neil Magny returns to the octagon at UFC Vegas 64 on Saturday night against Daniel Rodriguez in the co-main event of the evening.
“Surprisingly there’s still a lot to learn in this game. Last fight was definitely one of those lessons. For me the biggest thing is getting complacent. It’s not even getting complacent to the point that I’m not going to the gym or I’m not putting the work that I need to put in, but more so it’s like the distractions that I have around me at this point,” Magny told the media on Wednesday.
“It was almost easier being 24, 25 in the UFC where literally all I had to do was take care of my dog and go to the gym and I could spend 8 hours a day there. Now being in the position where I have a business outside of fighting, I have real estate outside of fighting, I have two kids to worry about. I have a marriage to worry about.”
Magny pointed out that while those things aren’t negative for him they still remain distractions specially during a training camp.
“Learning how to kind of prioritize those things and still be present at the same time is a difficulty. My last fight definitely put me in position to kind of start figuring that thing out more,” he said.
Magny lost via submission to Shavkat Rakhmonov back in June at the UFC APEX.
“Last fight for example my wife was expecting our child to be born the week of my fight. So for me it was like his due date was going to be June 21st. My fight was scheduled for June 25th. So in my mind, ‘Ok cool, I can handle that it’s not a big deal at all’. I’ll be present when he’s born. At the same time I also was like working on two of my investment properties where I had two complete renovations going on on top of a training camp and expecting a newborn,” said Magny.
Magny said his son ended up being born 6-weeks premature with no significant health issues. After 2 weeks in a NICU he was able to take his son home.
“It ended up being hard to balance it all, but I’m not a guy to shy away from difficult situations or adversity,” he said.
“But the reality of it is there’s no way I can effectively be a present father, be a present husband, be present in training camp and be present on two separate renovations and get those things all done well. I can do them ok, I can do them average, but fighting the best guys in the world I can’t afford to go in with the idea that ok cool I had an ok training camp.”
Magny had no issue with his fight against Daniel Rodriguez getting pushed back, and is excited for the matchup.
“Definitely excited for it. Daniel is definitely a talented dude. To make it this far in the UFC with the record he has you definitely don’t get here by being a slouch. It’s a huge test in front of me going out there and fighting Daniel Rodriguez. I’m excited for it,” Magny said.
“I feel like I have a lot to prove coming off my last fight, and I feel like he’s in a position where he wants to do the same as well.
Watch the entire media day scrum with Neil Magny above. He takes on Daniel Rodriguez in the co-main event of the evening at UFC Vegas 64 on Saturday night.
