Each of the five times Weeks has had his hand raised in a pro mixed martial arts fight, he’s had that feeling, so it was no surprise that he got the short-notice call when Bryan Barberena needed an opponent last December. Of course, many wondered if someone with five pro fights could hang with a seasoned veteran of the UFC, but three rounds later, while Weeks didn’t get the decision, he got the respect from his opponent and the fan base. The secret? An amateur career spanning nearly three years and 19 fights. You don’t see that too often these days, but for the Missouri product, learning his craft on the amateur scene first was a no-brainer.
“I went undefeated early in my amateur career, and a lot of fighters would have just taken that as a sign to go pro,” Weeks said. “But I also was only fighting people in the Midwest, and people in the Midwest are tough guys, but they’re not everybody. I definitely wanted to make sure that my skill set was well rounded for whatever competition I would run into and after about the sixth fight in my amateur career, my coach told me about this tournament where 68 countries are involved. You all sign up and it’s five days, five fights and you guys fight each other one after another. I thought, what more way to test your skill than going against people from 68 different countries?”
Competing in IMMAF tournaments, Weeks got the challenges he wanted. He won most, lost some, but the main benefit is that when he decided to turn pro in 2019, he was ready to not just pick up a paycheck, but to make a run at the top of the welterweight division.
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“We knew we wanted to be here in the UFC,” Weeks said. “We knew we wanted to not only be in the UFC, but compete at the highest level of competition in the UFC. So for us to be able to do that, me and my coaches knew we needed to be the best fighter that we can possibly be. Having six fights in the first amateur run is not being the best fighter you can be. I even saw holes in practices, like, this is working against me, I need to change things up. So our main focus was to make sure that I was the most complete fighter so that we could reach that end goal to fight the highest competition in the UFC. I’m thinking we made our way that way, so it’s doing well.”
