UFC featherweight Steve Garcia picked up a thrilling win over Shayilan Nuerdanbieke at UFC 287. “Mean Machine” recapped that performance, outlined a few potential matchups for this summer, discussed his underdog mentality, and much more.
Check out the full interview in the video above, or read the transcript below.
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John Morgan: It is Steve Garcia, who is now a week removed from what was a phenomenal performance, and we were just kind of laughing before we got started about how crazy life is before a fight goes to how not so crazy it is afterwards, but man, you’ve had about a week to soak it all in, man. How are you feeling about that performance?
Steve Garcia: Overall, you know, you can always hate on the things that you did wrong, which I’m doing still currently, but at the end of the day, man, I’m just blessed to get the win, you know? That probably sums it all up – just happy. Happy about that. I feel like I have a 100-pound weight vest lifted off my shoulder and I can breathe, so that’s good.
JM: I imagine. What’s your process afterwards? I mean, are you a guy that like, ‘I’ve got to watch it back immediately. I want to watch this thing 100 times’? Do you try to detach yourself for a little bit? Like, what’s your process for soaking it all in after?
Steve Garcia: I wouldn’t say I necessarily have a process. It just depends on, like, the environment, atmosphere. If I’m fighting that the Apex, my phone’s blowing up – well, I mean my phone blows up no matter what. I think all of our phones blow up after a fight, especially if you do really well. But like this last time, it was my first event here in the States that had a big crowd. I’ve been fighting at the Apex a lot, so it was nice to have my wife there. My brother was there, so they shot us home, or to the hotel, came back, and I was able to enjoy the rest of the card with them. That’s kind of like one of the perks about being early in the in the fight card is that I can kind of like come back and enjoy the rest of the fights, so that was my process this last time.
JM: I love it. So did did you stay for the whole card? Did you watch the rest of it?
Steve Garcia: Of course, man. That’s the whole thing about this card. That card was awesome. Like, even if I wasn’t on it, I would have paid pay-per-view to do, you know, to watch it, so I was happy to be part of it.
JM: I love it. What did you think about Israel Adesanya‘s win because man, I tell you, I was so excited about that fight, and I thought he could win, but I thought he was going to have to outpoint Alex Pereira. I didn’t think there’s any way he was going to be able to what he did. That finish and the whole celebration afterwards – pretty epic. What were your thoughts on that?
Steve Garcia: I knew he was going to get it. If we were allowed to bet, I was going to put money on him, and I don’t know, I just didn’t see Izzy going 0 for 4. He’s so smart. He’s so technical. He was going to figure it out. I was like, ‘He’s got it this time.’ I didn’t know if it was gonna be that fast, but he looked like a man on a mission, and he’s that type of personality that he doesn’t just like, ‘Oh, I lost. You know, whatever.’ It’s like it’s going to eat him alive, you know, until he figures it out. He’s that guy, and so I was happy to be in the arena the same time it happened, so it’s cool.
JM: That is awesome, man. I felt the same way. All right, let’s talk about your fight. You get in there. Obviously, man, the size difference between you two guys was crazy. I mean, you’re big for the division, there’s no question about it, but I mean, you have the reach advantage, but when you have that smaller target like that, does that create some challenges for you, as well, to kind of – I mean, you’re punching down a little bit, right? I mean, you’ve got to get to that level. Is that a, you know, kind of I guess the flipside of the reach advantage?
Steve Garcia: Yes and no. So, like, majority of people in the 145 division are about his size about 5-foot-8, 5-foot-9, and I have a ton of those in the gym, so I want to say I’m not unfamiliar with it. I’m definitely used to fighting people like that, but like you said, like, man, his muscles have muscles, man. He was a big dude. He was strong, and I knew that coming in, so I wasn’t surprised by that at all. I just was kind of just, like, ready for it, you know what I mean? I feel like we handled it pretty well, but like you said, he was very, very strong. Those wrestlers, man, they just have those traps and they have those muscles and stuff. I wish I had that, too, but it’s a trade-off. I’ve got long, lanky arms that pretty much drag on the floor, and he has big muscles. I don’t know.
JM: So he obviously got to you early, man. I was a little bit worried. I thought – I’ll be honest with you – I thought that was going to be it. I mean, you were hurt for a bit. Do you remember what was going through your mind? I mean, how bad was it? Did it maybe look worse from the outside than it was, or was that was that a real gut check for you to survive?
Steve Garcia: Nah, man. As long as I’m breathing, I’m never out of a fight. You know what I mean? When he caught me, like, I’m not trying to lie to you right now. I’m not trying to seem macho or something like that, but in my head, when I hit the deck – well, obviously first you’re like, ‘Yeah, that sucked,’ but in my head, I was like, ‘If that’s the best you got, this is a bad day for you.’ I was like, ‘Wait ’till I get up,’ and I was able to kind of rally back, you know? It took me a couple of seconds, get my wits back, but leading into the fight, I’ve done a couple different interviews in a few different situations and talks with different people, and I just wanted to be a pain in his ass. So even if I’m on my on my back, like, it’s just going to suck. I’m going to punch in the face. I’m going to try to elbow you. I’m going to try to be really, really annoying to him, you know? And then he’s going to try to posture up, get up, and I’m allowed to get back up to the cage or stand up or whatever I had to do, get hooks in – just whatever. Whatever he gave me. It worked out kind of how I thought it would. Maybe it’s on my coaches. My coaches, honestly, they’re playing a video game in there. They know exactly what was going to happen, how it happened, and how I was going to finish, so it’s super cool because they’re pushing buttons and I’m the character punching.
JM: That’s awesome. First of all, you’re always such a humble dude, but man, that’s a bad ass line to be like, ‘If that’s the best you got, it’s going to be a bad day for you.’ I love that, but you touched on something that I wanted to ask you about. I mean, OK, so you get hurt. You’re gaining some momentum at the end of the round, right? Like, obviously you’re rallying back, and so I kind of wondered, going into round 2, if you thought like, ‘OK, hold on, I can finish what I almost just got done in round 1,’ and also, it was the bodywork that was incredibly effective, right? So I just wondered if that was, you know, you saying, ‘Man, I think I can hurt him in the body,’ or if that was the coaching that was saying, ‘Hey, you know, A) We could go get this finished now, and B) Look at the body, because that’s what’s going to open this up’?
Steve Garcia: That’s all coaches. That’s all of my coaches right there. Like obviously in my head, I know I can knock him out with my hands, you know? But at the end of the day, Wink’s like, Whatever he’s giving us, just take it,’ and his stance, the way he stands, I just knew it was just going to be open for me, and it’s hard to land body shots with people in the UFC because 1) They’re so tough, 2) Everybody headhunts, so we try to mix it up, and it paid off for me. But like I said, my coaches called that. Even when I threw the kick that kind of went across, he had me turn my kicks in a little bit just in case he tried to shoot, and my knee was going to catch his face first, if he did. He just walked right into it, and obviously it only hurt him, but I definitely put him on his heels a little bit. Then I was able to follow up some different shots there, you know, at the beginning of the second round. And then after that, like once I’ve got you hurt, man, it’s very, very hard to escape my grasps, you know? He was able to duck under. He’s so fast. He’s a little guy. Like I said, these wrestlers, they’ve got something different, you know? But I was able to kind of get my underhook, fish back in, and try to get head position, work from there, and saw what happened. That’s just kind of how it played out.
JM: Phenomenal finish. All right, so then what I’ve got to ask is, have you heard from the UFC brass yet? Because I don’t know, I’m sure maybe somebody sent you the clip afterwards, but Dana White was saying afterwards, like, ‘Hey, you know, he didn’t get the bonus tonight, but Steve Garcia, I’m going to send a little something extra his way and make him happy.’ I guess did you see that clip? When did you hear about it? And have you heard from them?
Steve Garcia: That’s the first time I’m hearing that, so that’s cool. So you might have to send me the link, ’cause I’m hoping he’s a man of his word. I could definitely use it because what was cool about it is after the fight – I haven’t talked to him like, since, you know, since that night – but after my fight, Dana requested me to come into his private office, like wherever he was at, and I got to have a conversation with him, and man, dude, it was super cool. Like, it was the first time I actually got to have a sitdown because I did the Contender Series, said ‘What’s up?’ He was, you know, super, super, excited about the way I fought and everything like that in the Chase Hooper fight. Like I was one of those those guys that to – what is it – keep an eye out for these guys. It was me and Chase, so man, I’m cool I’m getting his attention because I’ve got to get their attention somehow, man. I’ve got to get it, and honestly, I’m a dog that has a bite. My barking ain’t the loudest, but I promise you, I’ll bite you, and it’s going to hurt – and I think he’s starting to see it.
JM: I love it. As soon as we get done, I’ll send you the clip so you can hold him to it. It sounds like you’ve got some money coming your way. Well just talk, I mean back-to-back wins in the UFC now, right? Like you said, I mean, you’ve been coming in, you’ve been having exciting fights, but back-to-back wins, I’ve got to imagine that’s big for confidence, man. Has that helped you to feel like, ‘Hey, yes, I’m on the right path. I’m where I belong right now,’?
Steve Garcia: Yeah, man, like, there’s so many different emotions in this game, but like in my head, I’m just saddled on this dark horse, man, and I’m just going to just kind of creep in behind all these guys, and they’re going to start seeing what I bring to the table and how dangerous I can be. It won’t be long. It won’t be long. You’re going to start seeing me at the top, you know? But I’m one of the guys that’s kind of under the radar a little bit, you know what I mean? But when you see me fight, you’re just going to be like, ‘Oh, man, you’ve got to watch out for that guy,’ so that’s kind of my mentality about it, but I thrive on that underdog mentality. Someone always expects me to lose. I don’t know who it is, but I keep that mentality because honestly, like, being the favorite is cool because like, yeah, they know. They know. That’s cool, but it takes almost a little bit of the excitement, a little bit of the fun away from my win, away from from beating somebody, and having an underdog mentality, man, it gets to be able to be like, ‘I’m telling you, you can doubt me. Doubt me, but you’re not going to doubt me for much longer,’ you know? That’s just kind of where my head’s at at the moment, you know? I did just work out, so who knows? Maybe my heart – I don’t know.
JM: I love it, man. Listen, man, I mean, not not everybody is going to be the biggest talker in the game. Not everybody is going to be the biggest social media guy in the game or whatever it may be. But there’s something to be said for people that you just know, ‘Hey, when they go in there, it’s going to be a scrap, and I’ve got to watch that dude fight,’ and I think that’s the kind of territory that you’re carving out for yourself, and there’s something to be said for that, so I guess what’s next? I mean, what do you do now after after a big win? I mean, do you need to decompress for a little while? Do you need to chill, or are you like, ‘Get me booked right away’? Now that you’ve had that taste of those big crowds, are you like, ‘Don’t throw me back at the Apex anymore’? I guess what’s the next move for you?
Steve Garcia: I don’t know, man. Like at the end of the day, I’m a strong believer. I believe God, you know, is going to lead the path, and that’s the one that I want to take because when I take reins of it, man, I just mess everything up, so at the end of the day, I’m just kind of just leaving it in His hands, you know? Of course, I’d love to have a crowd. Of course, you know, I’d want to get back in there right away, but at the end of the day, like, you know, I had 10 weeks of hell. That’s the truth. Ten weeks of hell, and then obviously, like, I call fight week hell week for me because I’ve got to cut weight, and I try to enjoy it the most, so like the things I’ve been noticing differently, is that I’ve just been more focused on being Steve and not like ‘the UFC fighter Steve Garcia.’ I’ve just been doing me, man. Like Thursday, before my big weight cut, which is like on Thursday night, I just went and played 18 holes up in Florida, man. It was amazing. It was so cool. Yeah. It was just, it was awesome, man, so I just kind of noticed that those are the things that I’m doing. I’m seeing the results coming from it, and that’s what I’m doing right now, and I think a fight will present itself, I’ve been telling everybody this: I have a cruise planned in September for my wife. It’s her birthday that month, and she sacrificed so much for me to be here, and these are these small things I can do to give back, so if we want to get back in the cage, you know, August, July–August, I’m good with that. I think. A fun fight, maybe with the winner of T.J. Brown and Algeo would be fun. If they want to look at maybe someone in the top, you know, maybe like a Alex Caceres, something like that would be fun. Those are just kind of fun fights that kind of stand out to me, but I’m not going to push anything. I have a great manager, and at the end of the day, I’m not trying to bite off more than I can chew, you know what I mean? I’m not here for the likes. I’m not here for the views. I’m just here to just do my best, and that’s that’s the truth, and if people want to hop on board, you know, there’s some room, so that’s what I’m doing.
JM: I love it. Steve Garcia, I love it. First of all, I love all those matchups that you just said. Every single one of those, I’m thinking about in my head, play out on paper, it’s going to be exciting, so I love where your head’s at, and I love that attitude, man. That’s that’s an attitude that I think a lot more fighters can have. But let me – did you cut weight playing golf? That’s how you made weight, is going to play golf?
Steve Garcia: Uh, it helps. It helps. You know, you’re burning calories. It helps, you know? I was a little lighter than I normally am that night, so who knows?
JM: Unfortunately, my 18 holes usually have about 18 beers in them, as well, so I don’t end up cutting weight. I’m sure you were handling it a little differently, man.
Steve Garcia: Yeah, I don’t get to do that, but the golf part, I like the golf part.
JM: I love it. Well, Steve Garcia, man, thank you for the time today, brother. Congratulations on a big victory. I like that idea. July, August sounds good. Maybe pocket an extra $50Gs for that cruise. That could be a nice little vacation, and whatever it is, man, we’ll definitely watch it.
Steve Garcia: Tell me more, brother. I like it.
