Jose Miguel Delgado quickly became popular in the UFC after scoring back-to-back-to-back KOs between his Contender Series bout and his first two UFC fights. The time it took for him to grab three quick KOs added up to just under a single full round. That surgical precision from Delgado is no accident.
Some fighters say that they are a student of the game, but others live it. Delgado has had his eyes on the sport since he was young, and it was always an analytical eye.
“I was a weird kid, man. I was having like grown dissertations on like this fighter and this fighter. Maybe this kid’s got potential,” he said with a laugh. “I was probably like eight, nine years old. I think he’s got something. We’ll see how he develops.”
He credits his older brother’s love for the sport as his entry into breaking down the sport. While his brother and his friends would be talking about the best up and comers, Jose would jump in and make sure they had his hottest takes as well.
“It was my older brother that really would get the fights and then it’d be him and all his friends. I watch the fights and I’d be like the younger little I’m sure annoying brother of just insert himself in all these conversations,” Delgado said. “But man, I’ve been like a hardcore fan since as far as I can remember.”
Of all of the early takes that he had, there were a couple that stuck out to him as his favorites. One of those he got behind early, would go on to become a UFC legend.
“I have a few [I was in on early] – [Jose] Aldo. Like I watched him versus Jonathan Brookins. I was like, oh man, I like both these guys like but I was really hyped to see Brookins like a old school name on the Ultimate Fighter and he’s doing a lot of fun stuff on social media too” he said. “So shout out to Jonathan Brookins. He’s always been an interesting case in MMA, but like Aldo – I was like, that guy’s sick and pretty early on, I was like, I think that guy might be one of my favorites right now.”
Not only has his early dive into analytics helped him out when it comes to seeing things others don’t, it also helped him find his home. When looking for a gym to train at that could launch him forward, he thought back to his early days watching with his brother.
“It was always kind of like MMA Lab and I was a big WEC fan. So seeing Benson [Henderson], seeing [John] Crouch like seeing the run that they had,” Delgado explained. “I was like, oh man, I definitely want to make my way over there and see what that environments like and then once I got there was real. You could you just see the culture man.”
And the rest, as they say, is history. Now he looks to write that next page with Henderson and Crouch in his corner. They’ll make their way to the Apex with Delgado this Saturday as he takes on Andre Fili. That fight takes place on the main card of UFC Vegas 114, which starts at 9pm EST on Paramount+.
