Vancouver – He might be fighting one of the most polite fighters in the UFC, but welterweight Adam Fugitt will look for whatever motivation he needs to take on Mike Malott at UFC 289 on Saturday night.
“There may not be any trash talk from him, but I have this chip on my shoulder. I can just pick out these little things and…I don’t know. Maybe it’s a little bit toxic, but I can pick out little things and just really kind of hang onto him,” Fugitt told reporters including Cageside Press on Wednesday.
“And use them as tackling fuel as you can put it I guess.”
That may be a little tough with Malott who isn’t one to be disrespectful, or talk trash, but Fugitt looks for it anyway.
“He’s kind of the king of the compliment sandwich I think. He’s starts out with a little positivity, he hits you in the middle, and then he ends it with positivity. It’s something that my boss back in the day kind of was really good at. I just kind of took a little bit of that, and you know, I remember what this feels like,” Fugitt said.
“I’m just going to hang onto that and continue. I think he said something like he’s really well rounded, he does a lot of good things, but I’m just better than him in every direction, every aspect of the game. Then he finished off with ‘but he’s definitely probably the toughest guy I fought. So it’s a good compliment sandwich.”
Obviously the goal is to get into the rankings, move up, and make a run for the title. The type of names that Fugitt has fought lately, including Malott, haven’t exactly been the names that will get someone to a title shot.
“I mean those are the type of fights that I’ve got to take at this point. Like I said I’m kind of the gate keeper. I’m the betting underdog and so those are fights I feel like I’ve got to take right now,” he told Cageside Press.
“If I go in there and I do my job it pushes me along a lot faster. So we’ll get to those vets. Unfortunately Robbie (Lawler) is retiring after this next one so I won’t mention his name.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Adam Fugitt above. He takes on Mike Malott on the main card portion of UFC 289 on Saturday night.
