A battle of undefeated middleweights arrives on Dana White’s Contender Series this Tuesday, with Zachary Reese (5-0) taking on Eli Aronov with a shot at the UFC proper on the line.
While Reese knows Aronov is his best opponent to date, “I don’t train for the opponent, I’m just trying to get as good as I can in between fights,” he told Cageside Press in a recent interview. “Because my goal is to be successful in the UFC, not just get to the UFC.”
Reese has been preparing for this fight at War Training Center in Texas, alongside the likes of Trevin Giles and Alex Morono, among others. Making it to the UFC would mean a lot — especially given he’d be able to see some money start rolling in.
“Just to be able to financially make a living, doing fighting. As fighters, we do it so much for free or for just a little bit of money,” Reese noted. “So to be able to fully focus on fighting would be amazing.”
As for Aronov, “I think he’s definitely my best opponent to date, in my pro career for sure. And yeah I’m super stoked to have that step up in competition.” He’s expecting Aronov to look to take the fight down, but Reese believes he might have a trick or two up his sleeve there. “I think he’s definitely going to try to grapple more, and I think I’m probably going to try to strike more. But I think I’m going to surprise him too with my grappling.”
Known for ending fights early, Zachary Reese is looking for a first round finish on Tuesday, and that’s nothing new. “All my pro fights have been first round finishes. It’s not necessarily that we go out there and plan to just run through these guys, it’s just how we train man. It’s how I train, it’s how I take my mentality to training and fighting and stuff. Just looking for finishes, looking for checkmates the entire time.”
“I’m going to bring some calculated and tactical aggression on August 22, and I’m coming home with that contract,” he later told us.
Watch our full DWCS Season 7 Week 3 interview with Zachary Reese above.
