Team Alpha Male’s Alex Munhoz fought with a torn ACL to make it into the UFC, then returned to action nine months later. Ahead of his third trip to the octagon, at UFC Vegas 77, there’s been an even longer layoff.
Additional injuries took Munhoz (6-2) out for over two years — he last competed in April of 2021.
“I turned into a body builder for like a year and a half,” Munoz told Cageside Press in a recent interview, adding that “I got up to over 200 pounds of muscle. I ended up lifting like a madman.”
The time away, however, “ended up being a blessing in disguise,” said Munoz. “I’m a very fast twitch athlete. Everything I do, I want to be fast, I want to be first, I [don’t] want to be last. Dealing with serious injuries like this, it forces you to slow down, it forces you to really learn the technique and be more technically efficient. Whereas at first, everything goes through your head — this is the end, all these thoughts go through your head — then you take some time and in retrospect, it’s like man, this is one of the best things that could happen.”
“I’m a much more well-rounded fighter now. I put a lot of time into strength and conditioning. I didn’t do strength and conditioning before, MMA was my strength and conditioning. So this helped me realize that this is more than just MMA training, I need the whole thing.”
LeBron James, noted Munhoz, puts 2.5 million dollars a year into his physio therapy and self-care year in and year out. Munoz was putting in zero. “Now I have an amazing team around me. I’ve learned how to train smarter, harder. And because my body’s stronger, I’m able to push my limits harder, and really feel comfortable just being dog tired and knowing my body is going to hold up.”
On Saturday at UFC Vegas 77, Munoz is paired up with Carl Deaton. Munhoz has nothing but respect and admiration for Deaton taking the fight. That said, “I think I’m better everywhere,” said Munoz. “I think I’m going to be faster, I think I’m going to be the better wrestler, I think I’m going to have better striking.”
“Where ever the fight goes, and this is a pretty generic answer, where ever the fight goes, I’m ready for. Which he should be. You can’t have holes in your game once you’re in the UFC. You can’t be like ‘man I hope this doesn’t turn into a wrestling match,'” continued Munoz. “I’ve wrestled my whole life, I hope this turns into a wrestling match. I love the striking. I want to get in there. If anybody has seen me fight, they know that it’s kill or be killed out there. I just want to go out and brawl. But I think I’m also capable of hitting and not getting hit, and using a little more athleticism.”
Watch our full interview with UFC Vegas 77’s Alex Munoz above.
