Zack Powell is stepping up on short notice Friday night, taking on Jeremiah Curtright in a middleweight bout that marks Powell’s second straight short-notice scrap for Unified MMA.
Ahead of their fight at Unified MMA 56, Canada’s Powell (6-2) spoke with Cageside Press about the fight, competing on short notice, and hoping to land a super welterweight title shot next.
“For some reason they keep ringing my phone short notice. It was the same way for the last match, this way now,” noted Powell. “They know I’m always down to scrap, there’s a reason they’re calling me.”
The late notice fights work at middleweight, but Powell is working to get to a point where he can also accept a short-notice bout at welterweight. “I walk around pretty heavy, so as of right now I don’t think I can take these opportunities at welterweight on short notice, but I’m working towards being able to. Just like, short notice, any welterweight opportunity would be perfect.”
As for Unified MMA, Powell has spent his last four fights there, as of Friday. “Unified is great. I hope they can see now that I’m a company man, and they sign me in advance,” said Powell. “They gave me two really good fights when I signed with them and I was really appreciative of that, and then I took two years off and stuff and I guess they kind of forgot about me. Because we tried getting on that Dana [White’s] Lookin’ for a Fight card, eight weeks out, like ‘oh we don’t have any room for Pow Pow.'”
“I’m like, ‘that’s okay, I’m gonna stay ready.’ And I stayed ready, so that’s good, but now it’s two times in a row the card kind of falls apart, and I’m filling in for some fights. So I hope they consider me a company man and hopefully after I finish this guy on the 22nd, they give me a super welterweight title opportunity. Because the champ they have right now is not defending it, and I would love to be walking around with that Unified strap. I think it’s the best organization in Canada.”
As for current opponent Curtright, Powell sees a gamer, but one who comes up short in the technical areas Zack Powell himself excels at.
“I think he likes to fight. I think he’s a scrapper. He doesn’t shy away from a fight. I think he lacks the technical game of where I’m good,” explained Powell. “I’m pretty good at exchanging in the pocket, I’m good at taking people down, I’ve improved a lot too at finishing guys on the ground.”
And while you didn’t see it in his last fight, Powell added that “I think you’ll be able to see my dominance on the ground in this fight. If I don’t knock him out while exchanging in the pocket then I’m going to get him down and submit him.”
Watch our full interview with Unified MMA 56’s Zack Powell above.
