Sodiq Yusuff won’t fully commit to lightweight move after UFC VegaS 106
UFC Fight Night 256’s Sodiq Yusuff spoke to MMA Junkie and reporters at media day for his lightweight bout vs. Mairon Santos on Saturday in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS – Sodiq Yusuff is usually all smiles. You wouldn’t even be able to detect some of the difficulties he went through over the past years, unless he told you himself.
“It is what it is. I’m a very optimistic guy, a positive guy,” Yusuff told reporters including MMA Junkie at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday. These are the cards that you are dealt. You’ve just got to work with it.”
Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 256 will mark the first fight for Yusuff (13-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) in 13 months, since he lost a UFC 300 bout vs. Diego Lopes in 89 seconds by TKO. That battle was lost, but Yusuff rejected the notion that the war was over, even when faced with additional adversity.
“Dealing with life and injuries, injuries and injuries, trying to put my body back together,” Yusuff said. “… Well, you guys already know I’ve had a few different problems with disks in my spine. So it’s just mostly the ones in my back and the lower neck. I’m just really trying to mitigate that and trying to be pain-free. I’m trying to live as a regular person before focusing on being a fighter. If you can’t be pain-free doing regular people stuff, it’s a little bit hard to get in a fist fight.”
Yusuff, 31, was faced with the decision of when to have surgery. He chose “later” over “now.” Through stem cells and physical therapy, Yusuff got himself back to a point where he felt ready to compete. But still, he needed further change in order to feel healthy.
After years of tough weight cuts, Yusuff decided to elevate to lightweight where he’ll face Mairon Santos (15-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) on Saturday at the UFC Apex.
“I’ve been fighting at 145 since I was a kid,” Yusuff laughed. “I literally wrestled there, at that weight class. It was one of those things where I just felt like it didn’t really make sense. It wasn’t very healthy. From what I’ve been feeling this week, it’s been a completely different experience on fight week. I’m not as faint or groggy moving around. I have a lot of energy throughout the week. I’ll see how the weight cut goes. Knock on wood that it’s super easy.”
Yusuff doesn’t feel perfect, but he feels good enough. He feels refreshed and rejuvenated at 155 pounds and hopes that he can be an “anytime, anywhere” sort of fighter now that the cuts won’t be as bad.
“Taking short-notice fights was impossible at featherweight,” Yusuff said. “I want to be one of those guys like Kevin Holland, jumping into fights all the time. The long layoffs are unfortunate for me. In a perfect world, I’d want to be one of those guys they call up like, “Hey, we have slot for you to jump in,’ and I’d be able to take it. I think lightweight presents a lot of those opportunities for me.”
