“2021 was tough with fights still getting canceled because of COVID, and then I jumped through those two fights early on and then had a nine-month layoff before fighting Assuncao, but three wins within that year and back into the rankings, it was perfect.”
Things weren’t too bad outside the ring, either, as Simon and his wife bought a house, achieving the goal he set for himself when he joined the UFC roster. And then he signed his fourth contract the promotion, putting him in good stead to achieve the next goal on his list – a world title. Add in a settled and effective training regimen that has seen him not just stay with his American Top Team squad in Portland but also get in some work with Team Oyama in California, and things couldn’t have been going any better for the 29-year-old.
MORE SIMON: View His Athlete Profile | Simon KOs Assuncao
“Last year treated me really well, and I’m keeping that same recipe,” said Simon, who, despite putting together a quartet of wins in one of the sport’s toughest divisions, still feels like there’s work to be done to get his name out to the masses. But if he can become the first man to pin a loss on Shore’s pro record, it would be hard to ignore Simon, who has already done enough to get eyes on him thanks to a brutal strength of schedule that started even before he made the walk to the Octagon for the first time.
“This has not been an easy route for me,” he said. “I think it was my seventh pro fight, I was fighting a guy (Alex Soto) who had just got cut from the UFC, and even in the regional promotions, I was fighting Chico Camus and guys like that. So I feel like I got introduced to that level of talent earlier on in my career, but it’s nothing like the UFC, though. I fought Merab, who’s ranked sixth now, in my first UFC fight. But this being my tenth UFC fight now, I’ve been signed for over four years, I’m settled in, I’m comfortable, and I’ve been telling everyone the more comfortable I get, the more dangerous I’m gonna get, and I showed that in the last fight, for sure.”
