“My goal is to fight as much as I can and obviously win and move up the ranks,” he said. “I’m 31 years old, I’ve gotta get moving on this thing.”
Just 31? That’s prime time for UFC light heavyweights and heavyweights. Milstead laughs.
“I try and tell myself that,” he said “The moment I wake up, I say, “I’m in my prime, I swear,” as I crawl to the bathroom.”
It’s not an easy life at the highest level of the sport, especially for someone like Milstead, who also juggles a job as a pipeline technician and a budding music career with his work as a prizefighter. There are sacrifices made daily, all in the hope of everything clicking when it matters on fight night. So how does Milstead pull it off?
“Sheer will,” he said. “Growing up poor, you get sick and tired of living the way that you do, and the only thing you have in your mind is being successful and making it one day, and not having to come home to a motel or someone else’s house or eviction notices. That was my whole childhood growing up, so at a young age I got this idea in my head that I’m gonna make it in something, and I just gotta keep going. I’m in the UFC and I’m right there. I just gotta find my shots and I’ve gotta take them soon.”
