Jon Tuck Talks About His Setbacks In The UFC

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Jon Tuck (9-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) spoke about the setbacks he’s had in the UFC since his debut in 2012. He was scheduled to fight Alex Volkanovski (13-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 97 on October 15 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Manila, Philippines, which has now been postponed…

On his setbacks in the UFC: “Every time I can get some momentum going, I get injured. I had to change up a few things in training camp especially because for me – I always train hard. I train as a world champion. Every fight for me is a championship fight, as if I was to fight for the title. And sometimes overtraining is what gets me injured before the fight. It can be frustrating a bit, because I love the fact that you get winning streaks. And the fact that I train so hard – I know I never cheat myself. Every single day I go in the gym and I want to prove that I’m the best in the world – especially with the fact that I’m from such a small place in the world. I’m even more prideful.”

On why he could do now than when he was younger: “There’s a lot of guys that are accomplishing great things at a later phase of their careers and that’s motivating for me. I feel better than I did when I was at 22. Ten years ago, I didn’t feel as good as I do now. And I feel I’m still growing, I’m still keeping my youth. Of course, I have to make sure I don’t train too crazy or whatever, and just take care of my body because that’s most important to me, making sure I don’t run the car down before I can take off for the race.”

On his fight with Volkanovski: “He fought in Guam a couple of times, so I’m familiar with him. He signed the dotted line to fight me – it’s going to be great. Of course, I always want to fight the best guys in the world, and if that’s who they put in front of me and they thought that’s what’s gonna give me the test to elevate my game, I’m down for it. He’s a scrappy fighter, but I train hard. I train with the best people. I know where I stand in the world, and it’s not going to be an easy night for the guy. No disrespect, but – put aside anything from friendship or whatever – I’m in there to get the win, and nothing else but that.”