Parker Porter is a longtime veteran of the sport, but even after a decade and a half in the game, the Connecticut native has never travelled further than Vegas for a fight. Now he finds himself heading halfway across the world to fight in Perth for UFC 284. While that might seem like a daunting task for someone who has seemingly seen everything else there is to see in the sport, Porter says that this trip has one major upside; sleep.
Instead of worrying about the timezone differences and jet lag, he’s preparing for some of his first bouts of uninterrupted sleep.
“I don’t really sleep great as it is right now having a two-year old son. God bless my wife for getting up with him as much as she does,” Porter notes. “But even when she gets up with him, it obviously wakes me up.”
He feels that the change of location will go super easy for him and, even if it doesn’t, he works pretty well that way too.
“I’m used to being someone who operates on not the best sleep,” he shared. “Getting there, regardless of the time difference, I should be able to adjust pretty well, because I’ll actually be able to get into some deep sleep and catch up on that.”
Of course, travelling so far and the sleep issue is just one of the hurdles for Porter. He’ll face New Zealand-born, Australia-residing Justin Tafa at UFC 284. Porter expects Tafa to have the hometown fans on his side. However, having seen it all before, he’s not phased by that either.
“I don’t mind [the hostility]. You’ve got to be ready for some hostility no matter what in this sport,” Porter shared. “It’s not going to be the first time that I’ve not been the hometown favorite – going into somebody else’s backyard.”
You can hear the entire audio of this interview below at 2:04.
