“He won; it is what it is,” he added. “But if I have to rectify something about that fight, it’s to be much more careful about (my weight cut) because I was very depleted before that fight. I think the weight cut was the major factor from that fight, but taking things away from it to work on, it’s boxing defense, and so the past nine months, we’ve been working that pretty religiously.”
The majority of that work has come with UFC fixture Devin Clark and recent Ultimate Fighter finalist Zac Pauga, two members of the small, but skilled, collection of teammates Flores works with on a regular basis as part of the Denver-based squad.
Curtis Blaydes is another frequent training partner for Flores, and while they didn’t specifically work together ahead of Saturday’s contest, “Big Medicine” admitted that while there are huge benefits to training with the heavyweight contender, there are also times when he playfully questions what he’s doing working with the ultra-talented Blaydes.
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“With Curtis specifically, it f***** sucks, dude — he’s so good and so big; it’s not fun,” Flores said, laughing. “During camp it’s like, ‘I don’t know how many rounds I can do with you because I’ve got to make it to the fight.’
“Curtis is excellent. He was giving me pointers last week that I was able to use, good pointers in sparring last Friday. The knowledge is excellent and having that core group of guys is great. It’s not really guys just coming in for camps: we lift together, we do strength and conditioning together, if we get extra work in, it’s together; we’re going to different gyms together.
“It’s been excellent, and I’ve just been soaking everything up.”
In advance of his meeting with Park this weekend, he’s been soaking up a great deal of film on his opponent, as well, and Flores believes he’s figured a few things out about the defending champion.