“I’ve known Dustin ever since the start of his journey and my journey also,” said Holobaugh. “He started a little earlier than me, but we were on the same local cards in Louisiana back 10, 12 years ago. So it’s always pretty cool to see a guy from the same state come up the way he did and now he’s a UFC world champion.”

Back then, guys like Holobaugh and Poirier were scrapping every chance they got, all with the dream of one day making it to the big show, where they could get the opportunity to make this a career and get a belt. 

“Guys grow up watching the UFC on TV for years and that’s their dream,” he said. “When they start fighting on these local shows, that’s every fighter’s dream, but the reality is, probably 80 percent of those fighters will never make it.” 

Holobaugh made it, but it wasn’t an easy road. At least not the second time. The first time, Holobaugh raced out to a 9-0 pro record, earning a call to the Strikeforce promotion. He lost his debut to veteran Pat Healy in January 2013, but three months later he was in the UFC, where he lost his second straight, this time to Steven Siler. 

By July of that year, he was back on the regional circuit, where the real struggles began. For the next four years, he won a lot more than he lost, but he didn’t get the call back to the Octagon. That didn’t happen until he got on the first season of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. And while a win over Matt Bessette in July 2017 was overturned to a no contest due to prohibited use of a pre-fight IV, he was invited back to the UFC, only to lose 2018 bouts to Raoni Barcelos and Shane Burgos.

That’s where it gets interesting, as the Barcelos bout earned Fight of the Night honors and in the Burgos bout, he dropped the New Yorker before getting submitted. So it was another example that there are different kinds of losses.

“I think I can take a bunch of positives away from the fights, especially in the first fight with Barcelos,” said the 32-year-old. “Everybody’s starting to see how good that guy is, and then you look at Shane Burgos and it’s the same thing. His fight with Cub Swanson, he got a close split decision, but that’s a good win.”

Now it’s Holobaugh’s turn, and he’s under no illusions about where he’s at heading into Saturday’s bout with Moises.

“I think it’s still a must win,” he said. “The UFC doesn’t give a shot to many guys with 0-3 or 0-4 records in the UFC. So I still think it’s a must win. The performances that I had in those last two fights were pretty good, but all in all I didn’t come away with the victories, so we just have to change some things up, not make the mistakes we made in the last two fights and we should be able to pull out the victory in this one.”

Entering a pro MMA fight for the 25th time, Holobaugh is used to life in the fight game and the pressure that goes along with it. What he isn’t too used to is going outside of the U.S. for a fight, with this weekend’s UFC 237 card marking only the second time he’s gone on the road to a foreign country to fight. But he’s not intimidated by being the visitor in Rio de Janeiro.

“I’m trying to embrace it, especially this trip,” he said. “This is the hometown of my coach (Rafael Ellwanger) that he grew up in, so it’s good to bring my coach back. He hasn’t been able to come out to his hometown very much over the past 10-12 years that he’s been in America and Louisiana with us, so it feels good to bring him out and let him see his family and stuff like that and get this big fight also.”

Pretty sneaky, Holobaugh, having a Brazilian coach for a fight in Brazil.

He laughs.

“That’s always the plan, to go into hostile territory and try to take a few fans back with me.”

Anyone who has seen Holobaugh fight has likely become a fan, but he knows that to keep his place in the roster, he also has to start putting wins together. And he’s prepared to do just that.

“This is most definitely the year that I’m gonna put it all together,” he said. “I had a bad run in 2018, but anyone can go and check my record and check my history of being a fighter. I’ve never lost over two fights in a row, and I always come back and hit a big win streak after I lose those two fights. So I feel like that’s the time that it is right now and I feel like that’s what’s about to happen.”

Most fighters will say that, but Holobaugh means it more than most because he’s fighting not just for himself and his family, but for every kid on the local circuit who wants to be where he is. He knows what it takes to get to the UFC, and he’ll never forget what it means to him.

“You’re forever gonna be the guy that made it to the UFC,” he said. “I’m forever the guy that’s done crazy things with my little small town life that I grew up on. So for me to make it here, it’s something I’ll hold tight forever. I feel privileged that I’m here, it’s everything I’ve ever thought of, everything I’ve ever dreamed of, and now it’s time to really get in there and take advantage of that.”

The hay was in the barn, the work was done, and all that was left was putting the final touches on before the call came to make the walk to the Octagon. 

As Andrade waited, her-then girlfriend and now partner Fernanda approached.

“I’m going to put water to cool for you to drink between rounds,” she said. 

Andrade looked at her and responded.

“There won’t be time between rounds. I’m going to knock her out in the first round.”

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Less than two minutes into the clash of strawweight contenders, Andrade lived up to her words, scoring a spectacular first-round knockout of Kowalkiewicz. 

In a career full of impressive performances, this one may have been the most impressive and certainly the most important, as it put “Bate Estaca” back in a 115-pound world title fight, this one against Rose Namajunas in the main event of UFC 237 this Saturday.

“The fight with Karolina was the essential key to bring me to fight for the belt now,” Andrade said. “I knew that if I had a good performance, I would have the chance now to fight for the belt, and that’s what happened. I went in very focused.”

And once the Octagon door closed, Andrade was like a buzzsaw, cutting through the Polish standout like she wasn’t even there. A flush right hand then ended the bout, one of the rare one-punch knockouts that you’ll see in women’s MMA. When it was over, Andrade had won her third straight, and considering that she beat Claudia Gadelha, Tecia Torres and Kowalkiewicz in succession, it was clear that a fight with Namajunas was next.

But what has Andrade learned from her first world title fight, a 2017 loss to Joanna Jedrzejczyk that saw her shut out over five rounds? That she can go five rounds hard and still be the same Wanderlei Silva-esque berserker in the fifth frame as she is in the first.

“I think that my fight with Joanna for the belt made me even stronger for this title fight now,” she said. “I believe that now I don’t worry about entering the Octagon thinking it’s five, five-minute rounds. No, I’ve been through that, I’ve gone five rounds. I saw where my body could go, I tested my stamina and saw that I can fight five rounds easily, and I’ve been maintaining that since the fight with Joanna, even knowing that I would fight three rounds with the other girls. I trained in all of those camps as if it were five rounds.”

It seems like everything is lining up at the right time for the 27-year-old. She got her title shot, she got married earlier this year, and when she gets her chance to strike gold this weekend, she will do it at home in Brazil, where her last bout there over four years ago was a loss to Marion Reneau. 
 

“I’m very happy, I haven’t fought here in Brazil in a long time,” Andrade said. “And I believe my return to Brazil will be my redemption, because I lost the last fight I had in Brazil against Reneau, and then I only fought outside of Brazil after that. And now Rose gave me this opportunity to fight for the belt here in Brazil, at home, with my fans, in Rio de Janeiro, which I’ve accepted as my home. I was born in Parana, but now I live in Rio, so it’s going to be wonderful.”

Even oddsmakers have Andrade as a favorite to bring Brazil its first strawweight champion. 

But the challenger is taking nothing for granted. Nothing. 

“Rose is a very tough opponent,” she said. “And before getting in the cage, everybody is a lion, everybody is ready for everything. We’re going to war.”

1 – Donald Cerrone
Social media chatter over the last week has discussed the resume of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and how he will likely get a place in the UFC Hall of Fame even if he doesn’t win a world title. And I agree about the Hall of Fame nod, but I wouldn’t count him out when it comes to winning a title before he hangs up the gloves. Just look at his last two performances against Alexander Hernandez and Al Iaquinta, and you’ll see a veteran who is acting like a veteran on fight night. Cerrone isn’t making reckless mistakes, isn’t rushing things, and when he sees his shot, he is still able to take it with no hesitation. In other words, Cerrone may be in his prime at 36. Is champion Khabib Nurmagomedov a nightmare matchup for him? Well, “The Eagle” is a nightmare matchup for anyone, but I’d still love to see the fight, just like I’d love to Cerrone in with interim champ Dustin Poirier, or Tony Ferguson, or Conor McGregor, etc, etc.
 

2 – Shane Burgos
New York’s Shane Burgos is rapidly building a reputation for himself as the kind of fighter who will bring in fans even if he never wins a title. Yet after Saturday’s victory over Cub Swanson, one that lifted Burgos’ UFC record to 5-1, he’s going to get the opportunities for fights that could very well put him in a title fight in the next 12 months. Is that a tough road to travel? Absolutely, but Burgos is a guy who likes to scrap. Now it’s all about making those scraps count.

3 – Walt Harris
I don’t think enough attention has been paid to the hands of Walt Harris. Yeah, people talk about the knockouts, but when you’re brought in as a sparring partner for heavyweight boxing standouts Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, you’re the real deal. And “The Big Ticket” probably won’t get any dissenting opinions from Serghei Spivac, who suffered his first pro loss at the hands of Harris on Saturday. Yes, this is mixed martial arts, and Harris will have to pull out his grappling chops to make it to the top of the division, but if it stays standing, Harris will be a tough man to get by.

4 – Derek Brunson
After back-to-back losses to “Jacare” Souza and Israel Adesanya, Derek Brunson was staring at the crossroads before his Saturday bout against Elias Theodorou. More accurately, he was staring at it between rounds two and three, as he could have either let Theodorou keep his momentum and take the fight in the final round or step up and regain the control he had in the opening round. Brunson chose the latter and resurrected his career. It wasn’t the best performance of the North Carolina native’s career, but he won, and last weekend, a win was what he needed. Now it’s on to another big fight.

5 – Macy Chiasson
Making the cut from featherweight to bantamweight was never going to be easy for 5-foot-11 Macy Chiasson, especially not on short notice. But the former TUF winner did it on Friday, and then on Saturday, she continued to impress with a second-round stoppage of Sarah Moras. Chiasson still isn’t the finished product when it comes to MMA, but she’s going to be a handful for anyone at bantamweight, and she has a mean streak that will cover her relative inexperience, making the future bright for the New Orleans native.