At UFC 286 this Saturday, former Cage Warriors middleweight champion, Christian Leroy Duncan, will make his UFC debut.
The 27-year-old is scheduled to take on experienced UFC fighter, Dusko Todorovic, who himself is coming off a win over Jordan Wright. Todorovic will stand as the most experienced fighter Duncan will have faced to date, but he has told fans what to expect.
“Sometimes I don’t know myself what’s going to happen in there. I’d say very free flowing and Lucid, unexpected, you’re going to see a lot of unorthodox fighting style. I like to have fun in there, and then as the fight goes on things change.” Duncan said.
The Gloucestershire native was scheduled to defend his Cage Warriors title against Jesse Taylor back in December, but due to a hit-and-run on Jesse Taylor, the fight was cancelled. Duncan mentioned how he was excited for that fight due to the experience of Jesse Taylor, but finds comfort in the fact that Todorovic also has a lot of experience.
“I kind of was expecting it just because through amateurs and my early days with IMMAF i’m fighting world champions and other countries top top guys, so it only kind of matches that kind of calibre. It’s the same with Cage warriors, I was fighting guys who were coming from other organisations as champions and with undefeated records and ten fight win streaks, so it follows that same trajectory.” he said.
Bizarrely, before Duncan found MMA, he was training hard in Basketball and had dreams of someday making it to the NBA. The Brit explained how there are some things he learnt in basketball that he was able to take into MMA.
“I would say the physicality, footwork and the tactical side of the game. The level I was playing at is the highest in the country so the training sessions were very detailed and very high strategy, so I applied that kind of thinking to MMA. With also the creativity that I used to play with, I applied that too, I think all of those together made a dangerous combination.” Duncan said.
Watch the entire media day scrum with Christian Leroy Duncan above. He takes on Dusko Torodovic at UFC 286 on Saturday night at The O2 Arena in London.
