Welcome to the 32nd Season of The Ultimate Fighter! How does it feel to be here?
Well, I have been in the APEX a lot. I’m normally standing behind the camera watching my guys go through it. So it’s good to be on this side of the camera, where I’m the guy that you guys are interviewing.
What is your fighting style like?
I’m a wrestler. That’s my background. But now I’m training at Team Alpha Male, and I have a bunch of different high class striking coaches and jiu jitsu coaches that are behind me. So it’s kind of morphed into my own type of style. But wrestling’s the base. Take you down and beat you up.
MORE TUF 32 CAST: Omran Chaaban | Edwin Cooper | Kaan Ofli | Bekhzod Usmonov | Giannis Bachar | Nathan Fletcher | Guillermo Torres | Mairon Alves | Robert Valentin | Mark Hulme
What is going to be the biggest challenge for you during the show?
The unknown. Normally, I have my schedule pretty dialed in. I know my fight camp. I know what I’m eating. I know who my practice partners are. I know who I’m going against. So I think the unknowns of those are going to be the toughest things.
What does it mean to you to be able to represent your country on the show?
It feels good. I feel like I’m a good representation of the United States and what folk style wrestling is. I think the Russians and Dagestan get a lot of credit, but, in the end, freestyle wrestling, they don’t have the ground game, and in wrestling, that’s my game. All the Dagestani handcuffs I’ve been doing since I was five years old, it’s not new to me.