Jacoby was talking to himself, Cutelaba, and anyone else who would listen following a round to forget against “The Hulk” in which he was repeatedly taken down, losing a one-sided frame in the process.
“He took me down, and I’m like, okay, and I get back up,” Jacoby recalled. “Then he takes me down again and I get up. And it’s all the same takedown. Finally, about halfway through, I sat there and literally told myself, ‘All right, buddy, get it out of you.’ And I’m talking to myself and I’m talking to him a little bit, too. ‘Go ahead, keep going. I’m gonna beat you in round two.’”
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Jacoby won rounds two and three on two of the judges’ scorecards. One judge had the second for Cutelaba. When 15 minutes were up, a split draw was the verdict, but in a lot of ways it was a win for “The Hanyak,” who kept an unbeaten streak that now stands at nine heading into his Saturday bout with Khalil Rountree Jr. More importantly, it showed that in a situation where a lot of fighters would have packed it in, he fought back, never losing faith that he would eventually find a way to win. That grit comes with time, experience and often a lot of heartache. But now that he’s here and armed with that mental toughness, the No.13-ranked light heavyweight isn’t going anywhere heading into a fight that fans believe will be a standup showcase. Jacoby, a former Glory kickboxer, doesn’t disagree, but he thinks he has more tools to show on fight night than Rountree does.
“I am excited knowing that it’s going to be a standup battle, but what also excites me about that is Rountree looks like a monster when he’s standing up, and then someone gets down and it looks like he shells up,” said Jacoby. “I take that as an opportunity for me to go out there and showcase my entire game and prove that not only am I gonna be better on the feet, but if I want to put him up against the cage and maybe work to get him down and do a little bit of work to finish on the ground, I might do that as well. I just know the options are endless for this fight, and I’m very excited. Every fight starts on the feet, he’s got a lot of power, and I don’t have to worry about that takedown from him. So I want to put a little pressure on him and make him worry about everything that I bring to the table.”
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Does this mean we’re going to see two strikers in a wrestling match?
“I’m not saying I’m gonna go in there and shoot,” Jacoby laughs. “I’m just saying I’m pretty confident that I can win this fight no matter where it goes.
“It’s gonna be fun,” he reassures. “And trust me, I’m going in there striking – there’s no doubt about that.”
That’s good news from a fighter who could have rested on his Top 15 ranking and asked for a fellow contender this weekend in Las Vegas. But Jacoby feels that there’s a bit of unfinished business with him and the Las Vegan.
“I said this 10 weeks ago,” Jacoby explains. “I have a feather in my cap over Rountree because he turned me down in March and I know Rountree; I look at him and he’s a physical specimen, people are scared of his physical attributes, and that’s all good and all, but what makes me better and more impressive is my mental game. I know I’m gonna break Rountree one hundred percent. My mindset’s just further along than his and I’m much more unbreakable than he is. I’ve told coach (Marc Montoya) over and over every week, ‘I’m gonna break this kid.’ And there’s no doubt in my mind I will.”
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Fighting words, for sure, but it’s not personal for the affable “Hanyak”. It’s all business.
“I look at every opponent that I have with respect,” he said. “I respect their skills and I respect their dedication to the game and going to the gym every day and training. That’s not easy. I respect that with anybody that does the sport, of course my competitors, and when we get down to fighting, there’s even a higher level of respect. But on the front end, before the fight happens, I also look at everything that I have and that I’ve acquired this year, and in my career, and everything that’s going really well right now, and I have to defend all of that. I am very physically and mentally prepared to do that, and I’m excited for the opportunity to face a guy in Rountree that a lot of people look at as a very scary dude on the feet. The thing with me is, I’ve been through the ringer with Glory Kickboxing. I fought the best standup fighters in the world, and I took my lumps and beatings like a man, and I rose to the top and fought for a world title and it propelled me to my UFC career and prepared me for matchups just like this.”
