Anthony Birchak Had a Rough Time After His UFC Deal Expired

Anthony Birchak spoke with MMAjunkie for a new interview. Some highlights are below:

On not getting a new UFC deal after his Fight Night 90 win: “Back in the day, you would get three fights into a four-fight contract, or even two fights into a four-fight contract, and they would say, ‘Hey, we know half of your contract is done already or three-quarters of your contract is done already, let’s re-sign you. That never came. So I took my fourth fight, and I thought it was definitely a good enough win to get me back in immediately, but that conversation never took place.”

On keeping in touch in order to get another fight: “Sean Shelby told me, ‘Hey, it was a great fight that you had, and I’m going to look to re-sign you in 2017.’ I campaigned for UFC Mexico City. When Aljamain Sterling pulled out of the UFC New York show, I texted Sean Shelby and told him that I would fight Raphael Assuncao on like 10-days’ notice, so I sacrificed my Thanksgiving and everything. I couldn’t eat. (Shelby) said that he was going to make it work. He was asking around to see what was going on. A couple days went by, and I texted him, like, ‘Hey, man. Do I take this training camp to the next level, or what am I doing?’ He goes, ‘Well, Raphael Assuncao is a really tough fight to come back to.’ I said, ‘Look, man, if this gets me my UFC contract back and gets me some more money – I really think it’s a good matchup.’ He said, ‘Well, it’s a hard matchup,’ but every fight in the UFC is a hard matchup…I was trying to pick up short-notice fights wherever they were at. I was ready. I just told him, ‘Hey, look, I’ll be 31 in May. I’ve got four kids to feed. I can’t be sitting around hoping that the UFC is going to re-sign me.’”

On the first fight he had after his UFC run: “With the first organization that I was going to sign with, they had a matchup. We were getting ready. I went into full training camp, and I just noticed on my road runs, just there was a lack of motivation. Like, ‘Man, this isn’t the UFC.’ It’s a fight, and I could get hurt and everything still, but I just could feel that fire was kind of on low burn, you know what I mean? When you take that stove to the very bottom, it’s still hot, and it will still burn you, but it’s not raging. I was talking to my wife, who’s also my manager, and I said, ‘Hey, I think I’m in a dangerous spot mentally and emotionally.’ I was very depressed, and trying to get motivated for a fight when you’re depressed like that, it was really hard.”

On his reaction to being out of the UFC’s sights: “When they kind of put me on the back burner, absolutely it’s a blow to your ego. So, it’s just hard. When kids grow up, and they’re playing Pop Warner football, they’re not saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to be the best goddamned CFL player out there.’ I want to be in the NFL. I want to be Deion Sanders, Emmitt Smith. I want to be Peyton Manning…The UFC was saying, ‘We’re the NFL of fighting,’ but the treatment of fighters doesn’t show that, and the pay of the fighters doesn’t show that, so how can you make that comparison? Once you’ve got there, you realize there’s more opportunities out there around the globe. The UFC isn’t the only organization. They may be the best. They may be the top dog, but you can always be a king in an organization that treats you like a king.”

On what his plans are: “The progression of a fighter is up and down and up and down. With the UFC, it’s hard because you sign multi-fight contracts with an option to cut you if your performance isn’t to par. But if you look at guys in MLB, NFL, NBA, they sign years-long durations for ‘X’ number of dollars, and the organization lets them go through their peaks and valleys, just like an athlete will. You can’t have peaks and valleys in the UFC. If you have a valley, you’re gone. They don’t let you go through your progressions as someone growing up and trying to establish themselves. It’s either you establish yourself in your first two fights, or you’re gone. That’s hard, especially coming into such a prestigious organization that puts a lot of pressure on its athletes to perform like that. Everyone wants to play it safe. If you look at my fights before the UFC, I was just a loose cannon, a fireball. Look at Ryan Benoit – me and him went at it (in a May 2013 bout for Maximum Fighting Championship). I say that fight was a great fight because it was 1,000 miles an hour, with like 45 miles an hour technique. Once I got to the UFC, I thought, ‘OK, I’m at the top of the game now. I need to play it safe. I have to not be so reckless,’ and it just played against me. I’m getting back to the other fighter. I’m getting back to being the bull and coming forward and attacking constantly and really just keeping everybody on their heels like I did coming up.”

On his goals now: “The ultimate goal is to take this show on the road. I’ve fought in Brazil. I’ve fought in Canada. I’ve fought everywhere on this side of the hemisphere. I’m trying to go to Russia. I’m trying to go to Japan. I’m trying to go to Europe and really get myself out there to more of the world and just really start taking advantage of the all the opportunities I really have as a fighter. When I was a little kid, I was growing up thinking of traveling the world and what kind of business or job would I be able to do to get financial comfort to do so. Even thought it may not be financially comforting to be a fighter, you still get to see some of the most coolest places in the world, and that’s something that I’m trying to do. I’ve done everything I can do, I feel, on this side of the hemisphere, and it’s time to knock off the bucket-list stuff. That’s what I’m trying to do: fighting icons, and fighting in iconic arenas like Saitama Super Arena. Stuff like that is what I’m shooting for right now – just really knocking off some stuff that you dream about as a young fighter. I know a lot of people are going to doubt me, but this time is dangerous for anybody that stands across the cage of the ring for me.”