Mark Munoz | Source: MMAWeekly.com
Coming off of a loss to top middleweight contender Yushin Okami, Mark Munoz spoke with Tapology’s Steven Kelliher prior to his UFC 123 comeback fight against former training partner Aaron Simpson.
After racking up a three-right winning streak in the middleweight division from 2009-10, Munoz was matched up with perennial contender Okami in August’s UFC on Versus event in San Diego, California. After a competitive three-round affair, Munoz came out on the losing end of a Split Decision verdict.
“His experience with distance,” Munoz said was the major factor that contributed to what was only his second career loss. “He was able to use his length really well and didn’t engage a lot. When I closed the gap, that’s when I scored a lot and that’s what I needed to do. He didn’t surprise me with the accuracy of his hands but what shocked me was the fact that he wanted nothing to do with the ground.”
Asked what lessons he took away from the defeat, Munoz was not hard pressed to answer.
“I just have to learn how to capitalize in different ways, so I grew a lot from that fight,” Munoz said. “I now know I can compete with the best guys in the weight class. You always learn a lot more from your losses than from your wins. I think I need to have more confidence in my hands. I have really good striking, but I just need to be able to close the gap better.”
Never one to remain inactive for long stretches, Munoz will begin his road back to contention in the division on Saturday night when he takes on fellow wrestler and all-around powerhouse Simpson.
Munoz had a heavy task in front of him facing off with Okami in August | Source: MMAWeekly.com
“I know Aaron really well; we go way back in our wrestling days and I’ve trained with him a lot,” Munoz said. “He is a very good competitor and when he loses he comes back stronger. I think it will turn into a striking match because neither of us likes to be on our backs. This fight is going to be won in the transitions. Aaron and I don’t like to shy away from action so it’s going to be great.”
While Munoz will undoubtedly need to put together an impressive string of victories to earn another match-up with a top contender, he has no doubt that he will be able to do just that in the coming months.
“I think I could be on the contender’s list next year because I did take the fast track toward the title,” Munoz said. “I know if I had won that Okami fight then I would be fighting for contender status, so I’m still there. I’m ready to go. My time is now.”
The UFC is clearly the world’s ultimate proving ground for fighters, as their marketing boldly claims, but the middleweight division has long been considered the promotion’s weak link. Many fans and analysts believe that–out of the now-seven major weight classes in the promotion–middleweight remains its least talented. Munoz disagrees, and he plans to meet everyone in the division head-on in order to fulfill his dream of wearing a UFC belt.
“You just have to keep evolving as a fighter, and I feel that I’m evolving and improving every day,” Munoz said. “I want to have that hardware around my waist. Looking at the weight class, I see plenty of competition and I’m not one to shy away from it; I want to meet them all head-on and definitely win, but at the same time I want to put on a show for the fans.”
Of course, part of the reason that the middleweight division seems unimpressive to some fans and analysts is that one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport sits confidently atop the divisional thrown. Asked what he thought of champion Anderson Silva’s longevity atop the division, Munoz said fans had better get used to “The Spider’s” reign.
“I think Anderson has a lot of years left,” Munoz said. “A large part to how the [Chael Sonnen] fight went was due to the rib injury; he didn’t do anything close to the gameplan we came up with before that fight, so he has a lot more to offer. That wasn’t Anderson Silva that night.”
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