He laughs, 37 years old, but still ready to battle it out with the young kids, like he will with Tucker Lutz this weekend in San Antonio. But after the long layoff, he realized that he had to make some adjustments in the gym to make sure he extends his longevity in the Octagon.
“Training with all these young bucks at the gym, trying to get them ready for the fight, I pull a muscle here, pull a muscle there, trying to fix my eye and it just goes from there,” said Pineda, whose last fight ended in a no contest when an accidental eye poke from Andre Fili rendered him unable to continue. “I’ve just got to start being smarter. I'm one of those guys that I get to the gym, I don't stretch out and I just jump straight into class and that's what happens.”
Daniel Pineda reacts after his TKO victory over Herbert Burns in their featherweight bout during the UFC 252 event at UFC APEX on August 15, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
Forty-four bouts into his pro MMA career, Pineda should know better when it comes to leaving the serious stuff for the Octagon, but the Houston veteran made his bones in a different era, when you got ready for a fight by fighting. So when sparring starts, if Pineda gets hit, he’s gonna get his get back.
“Yeah, that's a big problem of mine,” he laughs. “And you’ve got training partners that are the same way, so we end up just going at it.”
“I came up the hard way,” he said. “I had a lot of fights and I fought anybody that they put in front of me. I never had a cherry-picked fight. Pretty much all these people right now just cherry picked their fights, and they're good talkers. That's all.”
Main Event Preview | UFC Fight Night: Vera vs Sandhagen
Main Event Preview | UFC Fight Night: Vera vs Sandhagen
/
“The Pit” had 22 pro fights before he got into the UFC, and that was over 11 years ago. That has to be a trip to think about.
“Honestly, it's crazy,” Pineda said. “I went back into my Snapchat and my Instagram and it showed me a flashback from back in the day and it was a UFC picture of me and I'm like, oh crap. It just brought back memories.”
Daniel Pineda punches Cub Swanson in their featherweight bout during the UFC 256 event at UFC APEX on December 12, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Back then, Pineda was a young veteran who survived a 10-7 start in the sport to run off five straight wins and get the call. He responded with a first-round submission win over Pat Schilling that took just 97 seconds, and he was off and running. There would be ups, downs and everything in between, including a release from the promotion in 2014. But by 2020, Pineda was back in the Octagon, and while he’s 1-1 with 1 NC since his return, he remains ambitious.
“I've always been that kind of guy that I do want to get to the top, but I am chasing the money and I've always been that kind of guy that I want those money fights,” he said. “And that's why I take those hard fights. But I think my only problem in that position is that I take all the tough fights. (Laughs) I never say no.”
That’s why the fans love him, though, and when it comes down to it, that’s why he’s still doing this – for that love.
“Real talk, the fans being there makes me want to fight stronger and f**king throw down. Whenever I was fighting at the APEX, there's nobody, and now I got fans. Fans are going to be in the freaking stands. So now it's on.”
