Upon returning to the UFC for his second stint, Modestas Bukauskas came out with a bang. He went down under to Perth and beat Tyson Pedro on his own soil. Then he headed to America and took out Zac Pauga in his home country as well. He got an opportunity to make it 3-for-3 against Vitor Petrino in front of a hostile Brazilian crowd, and met his first hiccup then.
Since the loss to Petrino last November, Modestas has been away from the cage. While he has been outwardly quiet about all of the work, don’t mistake the lack of noise for lack of action.
“I feel like this time away has been very good for me. Mentally I feel like I’m in the right place as well,” Bukauskas said. “I think talk is one thing, but at the end of the day we have to go out there and perform. So I won’t say too much, but I’m looking forward to go out and express my full martial arts abilities.”
Although he didn’t get into specifics about changes in his skills, he did detail some of the changes in the work he’s doing. Having been working with mostly the same exact training camp for years, Bukauskas decided to mix things up a bit for his fight at UFC 304.
“I made an addition to my training camp by going to Tom Aspinall’s gym. I’ve been training with him and his team and his dad as well,” he said. “They’ve been such an amazing group of guys. They’ve taken me in with open arms.”
Bukauskas lauded the abilities in the room. While he also appreciates the training partners and coaches he’s had in all of the other gyms he works with, adding champions to the mix can only help.
“There’s not many rooms where you get literally a room full of world champions and heavyweights at that,” he explained. “Trianing with bigger guys, training with very experienced guys, training with different types of bodies – it’s definitely been a massive addition.”
With a newfound mental focus and an improved training camp, Bukauskas is looking to get in there to do something he has yet to do in his second UFC stint – finish his opponent.
“You know me, I always want to go for that finish,” he said. “I haven’t had the finishes I would have liked in my last couple fights, but trust you me, by the end of those three rounds, I will finish Marcin Prachnio.”
Bukauskas’ fight with Marcin Prachnio will take place on the ESPN+ prelims of UFC 304. The fight card begins at 6pm EST this Saturday.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 22:55.
