“It was a shock because none of them were renowned fighters like in the UFC,” he said. “You paint a picture of yourself and your own dream, and then when it don’t go that way, you get sad. I didn’t paint the beautiful movie that everyone goes and watches. But any story could be a movie; it’s just how well it’s directed.”
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Director Pearce had to go back to the drawing board, leave those losses on the cutting room floor, and figure out what went wrong. The 24-second submission defeat to Lance Lawrence? He got caught. The next two was trying to erase that defeat by any means necessary, even if it meant taking short notice fights against anyone he was offered.
“I would say those are learning lessons,” Pearce said. “I was just trying to get back that win real quick and wasn’t doing the research and maybe not doing the camps right and doing the right things, and just running in there and trying to get that win back. I saw myself never losing as a pro and I felt like maybe I was in denial. And now looking back at it, I think I’ve learned from all those lessons and just because you lost doesn’t mean you rush back in there and prove everybody else wrong. It’s your journey, it’s your battle, and you gotta take the process slow sometimes.”
