ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Derrick Krantzbelieves there’s a potential upside to being thrown into your UFC debut on just a few days’ notice.
The Texas welterweight stepped in on short notice to fight Vicente Luque at Saturday night’s UFC Rochester card after Luque’s original opponent, Neil Magny, dropped out due to a potential USADA violation.
A bout with a surging competitor like Luque (15-6-1 MMA, 8-2 UFC) would seem like a tall order for someone who’s never been on MMA’s biggest stage. But as far as Krantz (24-10 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is concerned, the lack of time to think about this means there’s no time to overthink things.
And as someone who had no idea a few days ago he’d be in Rochester goes through the blur of activity leading up to fight day, he hopes to use it to his advantage.
“I can see it as a benefit,” Krantz told MMA Junkie on Thursday. “Being able to, you know, just not even having to go through the whole week of cutting weight and worry about making weigh or what my opponent might do or what might happen. Right now my mind is just so focused on getting everything else ready so I can actually fight.”
For more from Krantz, click on the video above.
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