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Daniel Pineda: 'I’ve Got To Win At All Costs'
Featherweight Daniel Pineda Hopes To Put On A Show In His First Trip To Manchester Where He Takes On Nathaniel Wood At UFC 304: Edwards vs Muhammad 2
"I'm just happy to be back,” laughs Daniel Pineda, the featherweight veteran who makes his first start since June of 2023 against Nathaniel Wood this Saturday in Manchester.
And he means it.
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See, guys like Pineda, who turned pro in 2007, are from a generation where it wasn’t about everything outside of competition, but the competition itself. So when you take the fighting out of the equation, this Texan can get a little antsy.
But his loss to Alex Caceres last year is in the past, a scrapped October bout with Khusein Askhabov is in the rearview mirror, and “The Pit” is just glad he’s still doing this at 38 in a sport that looks a lot different than it did when he was starting out.
“Well, the good thing is that there’s more money,” he laughs when asked how the sport has changed over the course of his career. “And the UFC's known everywhere now. Anywhere you go, s**t, now we're fighting in Manchester and it’s going to be my first time out there.”
That’s pretty impressive for someone with 46 fights to get his first business trip to England. Pineda has been to Canada and Australia under the UFC banner, but those fights were back in 2012. Twelve years later, he’s getting a new stamp on his passport, and while he’s facing a Brit in Wood, don’t expect the boos to be too loud for a fighter who always manages to get the crowd on his side thanks to his attitude in the Octagon.
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“Fighting is what gives me money, so I got to go out there and put on a show every time,” said Pineda, who earned back-to-back performance bonuses in his last two fights with Caceres and Tucker Lutz. Add in that Pineda has finished all 28 of his pro victories, 19 by submission and nine by knockout, how can you not cheer for him, even if he’s beating up the hometown hero?
“I’ve got to win at all costs, and no matter what, I always try to finish it,” he said. “I'm gonna find a fricking bonus somehow. (Laughs) I always aim for the bonus - if it’s by finish, get 'em quick and get the first-round submission or knockout, and if it goes three rounds, then we're going to be in a Fight of the Night.”
It’s why Pineda is still here as he closes in on 40 years old. No matter when or where he shows up, he’s there to fight and finish. And, at this point, even though he’s had his setbacks, he says he’ll know when it’s time to walk away.
“I want to say I'm going to keep on fighting until somebody actually punks my ass,” Pineda said. “When I go in there and somebody punks me and destroys me, I'm going to hang them up. But until that point, I'm going to go out there and try to ruin everybody's f**king day.”
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He laughs, knowing that even as the years go by, he’s still a fighter. That’s something that isn’t on your tax return under “occupation”; it’s in your chest.
“I love doing what I do,” he said. “I like fighting, and this is what gets me paid and this is what gets my family fed, so I got to do it. It's my job. Go in there, fight and let's go.”
UFC 304: Edwards vs Muhammad 2 took place live from Co-op Live in Manchester, England on July 27, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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