He is. Unfortunately, we can’t always have nice things, and when Saint Denis was forced out of the bout due to injury, Solecki was left without an opponent for this weekend’s UFC Fight Night card in Las Vegas.
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Enter Carl Deaton, a 42-fight veteran who accepted the fight against Solecki on short notice. The Michigan native may have not made the high-profile splash that Saint Denis has, but he’s paid his dues, has won five of his last seven, and has only been finished twice. In other words, it might be 15 minutes of Hell for Solecki on Saturday anyway.
“I’ve had nothing but either durable guys or seasoned veterans like Jim Miller,” said Solecki of a UFC run in which he’s compiled a 4-1 record. “So I think the last four fights have been, ‘He’s not going away.’ But then you look at a fight like Austin Hubbard when no one was able to finish him, and then I got him out of there. We’re not going in there thinking it’s going to be a short night, but it doesn’t mean I’m not looking to put the pressure on. So I always plan for 15 minutes and things going wrong along the way. I think it’s the only way, at least for me, in this crazy game to prepare. But my coach said it today when we were sparring, ‘You’re one of the most disciplined guys in MMA, so let’s show it.’ And what it comes down to is that for 15 minutes, either of us can make those crucial mistakes.”
