McGeary: Tito has old man strength, but …

Michael Stets for MMAMania interviewed McGeary at the Renzo Gracie Academy on Manhattan’s west side, ahead of the 32-year-old Englishman’s title defense Saturday against Tito Ortiz.

“I’ve always been honest,” he says. “I speak from the heart. I don’t bullshit. I’m not very good at lying.”

“My mentality is still the same. I’m hungry for the win, always been. I’m hungry to learn more. It’s a little bit easier now that I’ve got a little bit of cash behind me. So, that’s not a worry now. I just carry on doing what I do. There’s no change in mentality. I’m still ready to take over the world.”

“Going from fighting on Ring of Combat when I first came over here, struggling to get a fight, now I’m headlining a main event of a card of that caliber, with all of these fighters, fighting Tito Ortiz. It’s a nice feeling.”

“My initial thoughts were, ‘man this is a legend. I’m looking forward to stepping up with my opponents and fighting the best. This is why I came over here is to keep testing myself. I’m trying to find the next best thing. The next big fight. Tito has been around for a long time. I don’t want to put anything past him. He’s a dangerous opponent, but I’m a dangerous opponent. I’ve been on a tear for the last two years. As soon as I got here I’ve been tearing things up. I haven’t finished yet.”

“At the end of the day, I’m a man, he’s a man, you’re a man. We all fight. This is what we do. He’s just another guy who I am going to go in and cause destruction or break faces as they say — as I say.

“He’s got that old-man strength. He’s strong. He’s powerful and he’s dangerous with his wrestling. He’s still a danger. I’m not taking him lightly. I’m not taking anyone lightly, but he’s not the Tito of 95. He’s now the Tito of 2015. This is a whole different ball game. The training has changed. The whole level of fighter has changed.”

“I’ve said this so many times, don’t ever stop fighting for what you want. If you want to fight for a world title than keep on fighting. This can go for anything. If you want a job, a specific job in life and someone tells you, ‘you’re never going to be able to do that.’ Stick your finger up to them and say, ‘you know what, watch me’ and go and do it and don’t let anybody stop you. That’s exactly what I did. People were telling me, ‘you’re never going to do this. You’re never going to do that.’ I borrowed money left, right, and center to come over, to make sure I could survive over here and I did it, but it was a struggle.”

Bellator light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary fights Tito Ortiz at Bellator MMA: “Dynamite 1” on Saturday in a big, big, big-tent event. There will also be a four-man, one-night tournament to face the winner of McGeary vs. Ortiz, as well as both kickboxing and MMA fights, sometimes even at the same tine.