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Sean O’Connell Is Happy to Be on the UFC Fight Night 102 Poster

December 7, 2016 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Vicente Luque Curtis Millender UFC on FOX 27 UFC Logo - UFC Shanghai - UFC Fight Night 115 Image Credit: UFC

Sean O’Connell spoke with MMAjunkie about his fight with Corey Anderson at UFC Fight Night 102. Some highlights are below:

On being on the card’s poster: “It might not be a big deal to other people, but I made the poster for the first time in my career. A lot of people go however many fights in their career and they never get on the poster. So my mom’s gonna love this, and that’s all that really matters.”

On the fight with Anderson: “It’s definitely the toughest fight of my career, and it also comes at the most crucial juncture in my career. Even though I feel like I won that last fight and got robbed in a bad decision, that’s not what goes down in your ultimate record. I’m coming off back-to-back losses, and this is an absolute must-win fight, probably for the UFC brass, and for me personally. It’s one of those do-or-die fights. Truthfully, I win this fight, or my career is probably over. And that’s something I have to consider every moment of the fight. How many guys do they keep around if they lose three in a row?”

On taking nothing for granted: “Ultimately, as a fighter, you try to be in control of your destiny, and the only way you do that is by winning fights. This is the last fight on my current deal, and we have new ownership that might be less familiar with my three ‘Fight of the Night’ performances and things like that. So I have to go in and I have to win against Corey Anderson. As tough as that’s going to be, that’s just the way it is.”

On having to step up for the fight: “I’m trying to jumpstart my career again against the toughest opponent I’ve ever faced. It’s obviously not something that would be described as an ideal situation. But I’m also the kind of guy who doesn’t expect to be handed anything special. I know I don’t have that caché in this company yet or in this sport yet. So if I’m going to prove myself, I’d rather do it against someone known and tough and ranked than against some random guy. I feel like we match up better than most people think we do. He’s obviously taller than me. He’s got a reach advantage on me. He’s more known for his wrestling and that grind-it-out style. But if you watch some of his fights, he sets a pace that’s really hard for people to keep up with and they mentally break, and I don’t feel like I’m the kind of guy who breaks mentally. I try to do the same thing to people, and I think that makes this an exciting matchup.”