The wins are there and the names are there, but Roberts’ intuition tells him it’s better to attack a fighting style change early instead of late. If all else fails and Roberts needs to pivot back, he’s only 25 years old and yet to even enter his fighting prime, despite all his opponents being in theirs.
“You look at the guys I competed against in amateur, my only split decision loss was to a guy named Brant Moore,” Roberts explained. “He’s a 9-1 professional right now and probably about to get a call to the UFC. I beat Loren Thibodeaux, who’s a 3-0 pro right now, and I beat AJ Fletcher, who’s 8-0 right now professional.”
Thankfully for Roberts, the ground game has always come natural. With a solid wrestling base already secured, there’s a built-in fall back if his new style begins to fail him. Call it a taste for the KO or call it a need to open people’s eyes, but Roberts just doesn’t want anybody to blink.