“It’s definitely been hurtful to the career for sure, but reflecting back on the past is something that we can’t really avoid,” Castaneda said. “It stunted my growth in the sport but, at the end of the day, I think I was doing it to myself. A big part of the reason why I wasn’t able to compete more than once a year was because of injuries and basically personal life stuff. I went through a divorce for a while there, unhealthy relationships, but at this point in time in my career, I’m focused. I’m training smarter, not harder, and I think that’s keeping me healthy year-round. I’m getting a little bit older, and I’d say I’m in my prime right now.”
That’s a nice thing to say at an age when Castaneda is, at 30, young enough to compete on a level playing field with the rising stars of the sport like the 27-year-old Santos, yet old enough to have world-class experience against the elite of his division and to know the lay of the land in the big show.
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“When I was in my early and mid-20s, I was like, ‘Damn, I feel like I’m a good fighter, but I can’t wait until I’m in my prime,’” he said. “And not only physically, but mentally I’m in a different spot than I was in my mid-20s, and I feel like mentally, I can conquer the world. I’ve overcome a lot through my life, not only with MMA, but a lot of personal stuff, and it’s only made me more mentally tough. This game is half-mental, if not more. It’s mental warfare. People lose a fight before they even step foot in that cage, and so I think that I made a lot of improvements physically and to my MMA game, but also mentally, so I think that combination makes me dangerous.”
If Castaneda is more dangerous than he has been, that spells trouble for the rest of a stacked bantamweight division, because after a competitive, short-notice decision loss to Nathaniel Wood in 2020, he’s finished his next two fights, knocking out former WEC champion Eddie Wineland in the first round and submitting up and comer Miles Johns in the third frame. Now he’ll get Brazil’s Santos, who is making his second UFC start after a loss to Julio Arce in April.
