“It’s not just about talent anymore, it’s about making sure that you’re as well rounded as possible and that you can compete with the wrestling and the strength to manage all aspects of the game,” he said. “Everybody’s good at MMA now. So I gotta check all the boxes. But you’re gonna feel my presence.”
And you’re going to see a different fighter than the one that showed up in Virginia more than two years ago to face Pena.
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“My first UFC fight, I couldn’t stop smiling because I made it, but I was disappointed because I lost the decision,” Garcia recalls. “That’s over. Now it’s back to business and it’s all business. Every single opponent, we’re gonna have ourselves a nice little fistfight, and I’m gonna watch you fall and hit the canvas. I’m gonna make sure I get my hand raised, and then I’m gonna go back home, make sure my family’s good, and I’m gonna play some golf.”
Golf? Okay, but maybe it keeps the “Mean Machine” from getting burned out. Nah, he just likes it. As for the “B” word again, he says, “I don’t have an option to be burned out. I have a family to feed. I don’t got time to do it. This is such a cutthroat sport, it’s nerve-wracking, but if I want to keep my job and I want to keep money coming in, food on the table, a roof over the head, I gotta beat every single person that steps in the cage across from me.”
