Michael Chiesa is as confident as he can be ahead of his UFC Vegas 43 fight against Sean Brady, which serves as the co-main event of the card.
Chiesa is coming off a disappointing first-round submission loss to Vicente Luque at UFC 265 in August. Prior to that, “Maverick” was on a four-fight winning streak since moving up to welterweight with wins over Neil Magny, Rafael dos Anjos, Diego Sanchez, and Carlos Condit.
Even though he is ranked in the top-10, Chiesa knows because of his last fight he had to fight someone behind him and that is where Brady comes in.
“Coming up short, I’m not here to lobby for different matchups or say yes to this guy, say no to that guy. I’ve never said no to a fight in my entire nine-year tenure with UFC,” Chiesa said on The MMA Hour. “When they call, I say yes. So when they called with Sean Brady, there was no hesitation to fight this guy. And the good thing is, being in the position I’m in with what I’m doing outside of the octagon, all the analyst work, and stuff, I already have the drop on him.
“I already have the notes on him in my phone from when I was studying his fights for the desk show. So I knew what I was getting into and I know what I’m getting into on Saturday, so I’m really excited for this matchup. There was no hesitation to take this fight,” Chiesa continued. I want to test myself against a guy like Sean Brady, especially after how things went in my last fight. I got submitted. I’m a submission specialist. I’ve got to go out there and right that wrong. And I feel like I can do that by going out and fighting a guy like Sean Brady.”
There’s no question Sean Brady is a tough out for anyone. He’s undefeated, but as Michael Chiesa says, he believes he has the style to beat him. He also says he is as confident as ever which will be a big help to him on Saturday.
Michael Chiesa takes on Sean Brady on Nov. 20
“My confidence is still running high,” Chiesa said. “If I felt different because I’m riding into this fight week on a loss, that’d mean that there’s a fracture in my confidence. And I’m as confident as I was headed into the Luque fight, as confident as I was headed to the Neil Magny fight. My confidence is at an all-time high.
“And I’m glad to be fighting at the Apex. I haven’t gotten to fight at the Apex yet. So I feel like this year, all three of my fights have been across all three landscapes you could possibly compete in. I got a fight in Abu Dhabi, I got a fight in a packed arena in Houston, now back at the Apex. And I look at the Apex like the TUF gym, like I’m going back to my roots. I’m going back to my roots when I put together that run in 2012 on The Ultimate Fighter. I’m going back to the small show, small cage, small crowd. But big fight feels,” Chiesa concluded.
