Because you don’t often get the kind of frank, straightforward answers Tucker offers, some may misconstrue his “this is how I see it” approach as dismissive or even conceited, but that would be a mistake, because it genuinely has nothing to do with anyone else.
The 34-year-old fighting out of Halifax, Nova Scotia is intensely focused and worried exclusively about himself — not in a “self-important, I can’t be bothered with anyone else” way, but in a way that highlights the commitment and dedication he has for his craft and how growing from a fighter to a martial artist has had a profound effect on him.
“I’ve lived a life before this in different occupations, from music on through, and this is something else,” Tucker said of his mixed martial arts journey. “This is the kind of thing that really reaches into you, into spots you didn’t know were there.
“For me, I spent most of my time coming up as I was doing different fights as a fighter, and then slowly, I’ve grown into a martial artist,” continued the 12-fight veteran, who has gone 2-1 over his first three UFC starts. “Now I feel I’m that first — I’m an athlete as well, but a martial artist first — and slowly, every fight, I get to go out there and get a little closer to that; closer to that self-image that I see.”
Tucker’s transformation from fighter to martial artist is a familiar one, and heading into this weekend’s clash with Jaynes in Las Vegas, the East Coast standout believes he’s on the precipice of taking a major step forward in his career.
“Those are tough questions because it’s not entirely my decision, but my optimistic response is that I’m just really getting started this year because I want to be able to create some momentum,” he said when asked about where he sees himself a dozen fights into his career and three fights into his UFC adventure. “There have been a few factors that have kind of prevented that, but at this point, this has been such a great development and I feel like that loss to (Rick) Glenn was a real turning point for me; that was where I just really started to get this going.
