Athletes
Charlie Campbell Dreamed Of These Moments
Lightweight Reflects On Journey To First UFC Win, Belief In Himself Ahead Of Sophomore Appearance On Saturday
Charlie Campbell was on the brink of making his dreams a reality, showcasing the power and pedigree that had delivered the LAW MMA product five straight victories as he stepped into the UFC APEX to face off with Chris Duncan on Season Six of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Powerful punches, mixed with a couple precise knees, had the Scotsman looking for desperation takedowns just 90 seconds into the battle, and Campbell was able to extricate himself from the attempts with ease. As he measured his distance and readied to unleash another Howitzer in hopes of putting Duncan down, the returning DWCS contestant beat him to the punch, literally.
Campbell was out. The fight was over. The dream was dashed.
“What a crazy experience,” Campbell said of his knockout loss to Duncan. “I felt like I built up so much invested time and confidence and momentum in this sport, regionally, and then I get the phone call. Everything is going my way, my life felt great, and in the fight, same thing until I’m being woken up and they’re telling me I lost.
“I didn’t even understand how.”
Charlie Campbell Shows Out In His UFC Debut | Noche UFC
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Charlie Campbell Shows Out In His UFC Debut | Noche UFC
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Nights like that are often crossroads moments in the careers of aspiring fighters.
Everyone that has been around the sport at the regional level can tell you about a dozen different competitors that showed promise, put together some good wins, but then caught a bad one and never stepped into the cage again.
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Sure, life intervenes at times and ambitions change, but for a bunch of former hopefuls, they’re never ever to move forward after the night they got knocked out or their aura of invincibility was shattered.
But, for others, that moment serves as a catalyst; an invaluable learning experience that prompts change, fuels improvements, and becomes a second act setback that kickstarts the hero’s journey to reaching their goal before the credits roll.
"Obviously the emotions have to run their course,” said Campbell, who turned the negative into fuel and is now readying to make his second appearance inside the UFC Octagon on Saturday night. “I was very upset; I felt like I deserved it, and that was the toughest part.
“That show is amazing and it gives fighters an opportunity to fight for a contract and really, really see if they’re ready for the next level, and what was tough for me was I felt like I showed I belonged.
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“Because it’s like, ‘Now what? I’m back on the regional scene?’” the 28-year-old New Yorker asked rhetorically. “That was tough to swallow, but the value of it for a young athlete was going to be how my attitude was. It was either going to make or break me. It was either going to push me far away from the sport or bring me closer to it.”
Between working with a sports psychologist and committing time to mental skills training, Campbell was able to put the devastating setback behind him and press forward once again, returning to the CFFC cage 10 months later and registering a first-round stoppage victory.
Three months later, he was standing inside the Octagon after receiving the call to replace Natan Levy opposite Alex Reyes at Noche UFC in September. From the outset, Campbell looked like he belonged, and that he’d learned from his experience with Duncan.
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A strapping figure standing six feet even with a streak of blonde bleached into his hair, he cut an imposing presence opposite the returning Reyes, who hadn’t fought in exactly six years due to myriad health issues. When he landed a big shot early in the fight and put the veteran on shaky legs, Campbell laid off rather than rushing in, cognizant to not make the same mistake that cost him against Duncan and confident that if he found Reyes’ chin once already, he’d find it again.
And he did.
The bout was halted prior to the four-minute mark of the opening round, yet despite the disappointment from two years earlier and the rush of registering a knockout win in front of a packed house at T-Mobile Arena, Campbell looked a little non-plussed about the whole thing.
“When you expect something of yourself and really believe you’ve capable of something, you envision yourself accomplishing something, why should you be surprised when you achieve it?” he said when asked about the win and how it sits with him six months later, as he prepares to make his sophomore appearance on Saturday night against Trevor Peek. “If you have a doubt in your mind and then you achieve something, you’ll be surprised, but in my case, I always knew I was capable; that’s the way I prepare myself and my mind.
“That’s why I wasn’t as emotional as I could have been because when I finished the fight; I was like, ‘Yeah, this is what I knew I was capable of doing; this is what I knew I could do.’”
At his post-fight media availability, Campbell gave the assembled reporters an easy headline to run with when he declared that he’s “the best in the world” — a bold statement for someone coming off their first UFC victory and sporting an 8-2 record overall as a professional.
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Plenty would hear the comment or read the comment and dismiss it instantly, scoffing at some newcomer declaring himself the best fighter in one of the toughest divisions in the sport after stopping a 36-year-old that had lost his one and only previous UFC appearance six years earlier.
But the truth of the matter is that no one has to believe it besides Campbell, and each time he makes the walk to the Octagon is a chance to show everyone watching why he feels the way he does.
“It’s how I speak to myself throughout the day,” he said when asked about his headline-making comment. “I stay humble in the gym and make sure I’m continuing to learn; I’m not complacent with my skill set. The things I’m already good at, I want to be great at them. The things I’m not good at, I want to be great at them as well, and even after wins, I’m back to the drawing board on specific moments where I can get better.
"That attitude is why I believe what I believe — people get to a certain age and maybe the learning stops, but I’m very athletic, I’m very fast, I’m physically strong, I’m very smart, I’m one step ahead. I’ve experienced so much in my martial arts career that I bring with me into every single fight.
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“Anyone can beat anybody — I’ve learned that myself — and I have all the physical attributes,” he added. “I have the mental side down, and I’m very in control of my emotions. You put it all together and that’s what makes me the best.”
Saturday night in Las Vegas, Campbell gets another opportunity to prove himself when he squares off with Peek, a fan favorite because of his “meet me at the bike rack” style of fighting and the chaos it invariably produces.
Peek punched his ticket to the UFC six weeks after Campbell’s loss to Duncan, and went 2-1 during his 2023 rookie season on the roster, sandwiching a loss to Chepe Mariscal between a stoppage win over Erick Gonzalez in his debut and a grueling decision win over Mohammad Yahya last time out in Abu Dhabi.
It feels like a bit of a full circle moment for the engaging, talented sophomore, and years after wishing he had a time machine so he could fast forward to these moments, Campbell is ready to keep proving himself right this weekend.
“This is where I envisioned myself years ago,” he said. “I used to wish I could jump in a time machine when I was 22 years old (and skip) to moments like this, and now it’s here. I enjoyed the last six years, fighting 16, 17 times to get to where I am now.
“Becoming 2-0 is going to mean everything to me. Being a UFC fighter is great, but being a winning fighter, being 2-0, is going to be even better.”
UFC Fight Night: Allen vs Curtis 2 took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 6, 2024. See the final Prelim and Main Card Results, Official Scorecards, and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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