Newark — Middleweight prospect Ateba Gautier (10-1) faces Ozzy Diaz this Saturday at UFC 328, but talk during Wednesday’s media day was about another 185’er he could possibly face some day.
That would be Baisangur Susurkaev, who in his own time with the press suggested Gautier would be “easy money.”
Gautier admitted he pays attention to everyone in his weight class, though no more so to Susurkaev than anyone else. “To be honest, as a fighter, I pay attention to every middleweight fighter, my division and stuff. Pay attention to him particularly? No. The attention I give to him is the same I give to everybody else.”
“If you you to fight, let’s fight. We’ll be happy. That’s what we like. So it’s fine as well,” he added.
The “easy money” comment, he added, didn’t bother him. “How can it bother me? It’s just a word. If you say something, I don’t care. It doesn’t effect me,” exclaimed Gautier. “But saying like ‘easy money,’ like you’ll be in hospital, maybe without your head, concussion, stuff like that. They say easy money, [just] to show up for him will be good. But anyway it’s fine, he’s fine still.”
Gautier trains with a few heavyweights including Oktagon MMA champ Will Fleury. There’s a chance fight fans could see him switch to 205lbs at some point.
“Move to light heavyweight, probably eventually one day,” he suggested. “But for now, as you can see, I’m cutting weight to get to 185. So I’m still here.”
Watch the full UFC 328 media day appearance by Ateba Gautier above.
