Parker Porter knows he’s fighting for his job Saturday night at UFC 288.
Porter fought again in February and lost in a first round knockout to Justin Tava and only three months later, he was already back. While it may seem quick after a loss, he says he’s completely cleansed and ready to take the bad taste of two straight losses out of his mouth.
“I was hoping to be back there around this time,” Porter said on BJPENN.com’s Just Scrap Radio. Then, after speaking with my manager and my stuff, the UFC is supposed to be back in Boston in August, so that’s what we’ve been looking for because that’s as close as we can get to a fight in my hometown. Then, we got a call to jump on this May 6th card at NJ and I was like, “Sure, let’s do that.”
Once Porter was ready to put up a fight, he wasn’t sure what would happen next but was open to taking on anyone. Although he’s fought six times in the UFC, he’s up against UFC newcomer Braxton Smith at UFC 288, who he admits he doesn’t know much about.
“I didn’t even know his name before the call and then I found out this was his first fight,” Porter said. “Doing my research on him, he’s been teary since his comeback. I don’t think he’s fought anyone with my incredible ability and he hasn’t fought at a UFC level yet. Not taking anything from the guys who got in the ring with him, but I’m not them… We’ll have some fun at New Jersey and I’m going to show everyone the work I’ve done since the last fight.”
When Parker Porter began studying Braxton Smith, the most obvious path to victory he saw was to take him to the mat and prolong the fight. He knows Smith is very dangerous early on, but Porter believes the longer he fights, the better for him, which will eventually lead to a stoppage win.
I think that will be a huge component of this fight. This guy looks like he wants to get things done as quickly as possible, he gets ahead and throws big bombs, he has a lot of power,” Porter said. “If he can’t connect cleanly, if he gasps himself, we’ll see what kind of power he has in the later rounds. If only he could keep his hands up…
“You’ll see a lot of good boxing, he likes to get forward and push forward and throw big bombs, lots of big power shots. I’ll be patient, pick my shots and if a takedown opportunity arises, I’ll look for it because we haven’t seen anything from him in his ground match. But, if It got to the floor, I think I could get submissions or finish by the floor and the pound,” Porter later added.
Not only is Porter looking to get back in the winning spot, he’s also fighting UFC The deal that hits him the most. But he’s confident he’ll be able to win by stoppage at UFC 288 over Smith and return later this summer in Boston.
“This is definitely do-or-die. I try to look at every fight as do-or-die, but this is more so because it’s the last fight of this decade, so I’m going to fight for a new one as well.” Porter concluded.
Do you think Parker Porter will finish off Braxton Smith at UFC 288?