Julian Erosa ahead of UFC 279: ‘I’m willing and able to get knocked out trying to knock you out’

Sure, every MMA fighter would prefer to simply win every time they step in the cage, but for almost everyone not named Khabib Nurmagomedov, that’s impossible.

Currently in this third stint with the UFC, Julian Erosa (27-9 MMA, 5-5 UFC) has dealt with his share of setbacks along the way, but he believes having gone through some of those losses may actually prove an incredibly valuable asset as he prepared to face Hakeem Dawodu (13-2-1 MMA, 6-2 UFC) at next weekend’s UFC 279 event in Las Vegas.

“I think that’s one of my biggest assets towards this fight, you know, against a guy like Hakeem is I’m willing and able to get knocked out trying to knock you out, and some people aren’t willing to do that,” Erosa told MMA Underground. “Some people would rather lose a close fight because they weren’t willing to pull the trigger and risk getting knocked out. But for me, man, I’ve been there, I’ve done it. I’ve got knocked out on national television in front of all my friends and family, so I know what it’s like to be at the bottom of the bottom, or had the worst thing happen to you, and I bounce back.

“The (SeungWoo) Choi thing, I came back and have had good performances, so those things don’t really mentally affect me. I can go back and start training and do what I do and just understand that it’s just these things happen in the fight game, and so I think just the the riskiness of my fighting style and my ability, my mental ability to handle these risky situations can give me a little bit of an advantage over a guy like Hakeem.”

Check out the full interview above to hear Erosa recount his recent double-bonus winning performance over Steven Peterson, his journey through the ups and downs of a burgeoning UFC career and why things feel full circle at UFC 279.