Yancy Medeiros Is Looking to Change Things Up For UFC 226

Yancy Medeiros spoke with MMAjunkie ahead of his fight with Mike Perry at UFC 226. Highlights are below:

On changing his style: “My jiu-jitsu coach is like, ‘Yancy, I want you to be utilizing everything you do.’ They want to see me fight – they want to see the Yancy in the gym, not the crowd-pleaser that wants to just get in there and bang. They want to see more. They want me to show my technicality and how good I am in that gym.”

On losing his last fight: “When it comes to fighting, I get a bit emotional. My last fight, I felt like I had ‘Cowboy’ on the backstep. I just kept staying in his face, staying in his face, and I didn’t see that one punch, and that was the end of the fight. I felt like I could continue, but Herb (Dean) didn’t, and it is what it is. For me, I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to make my adjustments.’ I want to look good. I want to press. I want to be entertaining. That’s the biggest thing, to be entertaining. This is the business of entertainment, and I hate when the crowd boos. It irks me.”

On fighting on the preliminary card: “I’m like, ‘[Expletive), I want to fight early.’ I like fighting early so I can enjoy the rest of the fights. For me, I don’t care where the fight is (on the card). I like early fights. I like to fight early, get it over with and enjoy the rest of the night, but I’m going to turn up whenever they put me on.”

On his training team: “I talked to my coaches as soon as I got the notice, and all of them are down. They all believe in me. I train with Max (Holloway). When I go to California, I train with Nick (Diaz), Nate (Diaz), Gilbert (Melendez). I train with all these bad-ass fighters and athletes and martial artists. My coach is like, ‘Wow, Yancy, you’re so well-rounded. You get dropped every fight, and they still can’t finish you on the ground.’ I’m like, ‘Why the (expletive) am I not utilizing my ground when I’m coherent, not when I’m trying to (expletive) survive?’ I feel like I have great jiu-jitsu, enough to not win, but not lose either. I’ve got decent jiu-jitsu. I roll with Nick and Nate, Kron Gracie. I roll with all these high-end jiu-jitsu guys.”