In the midst of a seven-fight win streak, Steve Garcia was riding high. He felt like his run to the top was running smoothly and he was ready for that next step. So it was of no surprise when he got an invite from one of his bosses to come for a chat. Hunter Campbell, the chief business officer for the UFC, asked him to come in for a meeting.
“I never talked to Hunter before and so I was happy to talk to him because I’ve talked to Dana, but I’ve never talked to Hunter,” Garcia explained. “Hunter’s kind of like taking over some of the responsibilities and I was like thank you for reaching out. I like knowing who I work for and who’s calling some of these shots. It’s nice to talk to you. You’ve been killing it – all this stuff.”
The pleasantries only lasted a short while and Campbell immediately got to business. However, the talk wasn’t about Garcia’s next fight or some sort of promotional work like he may have thought. Instead, he was answering personal questions about himself.
“Tell me about your family. I want to know about your kids. Tell me about your kids.
I want to know about you, you know, do you have a record? Have you lived in the United States your whole life?” he recalled. “Tell me about your upbringing. So he just kind of went down the list and I answered all those questions.”
After answering a slew of questions, Garcia started to get concerned. He spoke up and was given some shocking news.
“Midway through the interview, I was like, what is this about? And then they told me it was the White House,” Garcia said. “I was like, oh, okay. Alright, ask away, you know what I mean? And I asked who the opponent was. They said it was potentially Diego Lopes.”
He then had to standby as he waited for the official announcement. Garcia found out like everyone else – with the announcement during the UFC broadcast that he’d be on the card opposite of Lopes.
In addition to being over the moon about the opportunity, Garcia is also hyped about the fight. He knows that while fans enjoy Diego Lopes, this is a chance to show them all how much fun he can be. More importantly, it’s a chance for him to continue the run to the top.
“Everybody loves the way Diego fights. I think everybody should love how I fight too, you know what I mean? But the thing is, they just don’t know me. I don’t have that push, but it’s all good. I fight for myself and my family and for God,” he said. “That’s how I provide for my family and unfortunately, Diego Lopes has to fall. He’s the next one and I got to go and do my job.”
You can catch that fight as part of the seven-fight main card of UFC Freedom 250. The card begins this Sunday at 8pm EST on Paramount+.
