FREDERIK DUPRAS: ‘IT’S MY MOMENT NOW’

“It’s weird because I’m so focused on the fight right now,” he said with a smile when asked about his belt promotion. “It’s like, ’It’s good that I got the belt, but I have to spar in five minutes.’ I’m very happy, and I think after the fight I’m going to enjoy it more. Right now, I’m too much in kill mode. I’m pushing hard.

“I just had a new baby, too,” added the proud new papa with a massive smile. “A lot of things at the same time, but I’m focused on the fight.”

“Kill Mode” is the only mode Dupras knows when he steps into the cage or onto the mats.

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The 30-year-old from Laval has never been to the scorecards, posting a 6-1 mark as an amateur with each of his fights ending inside the distance, while he carries a 7-1 record with an even greater track record into this week’s clash with Arnett as a professional.

It’s not just that Dupras hasn’t been to the scorecards — as a pro, he’s yet to see the second round, and after suffering a loss in his third pro bout, the H2O MMA representative has rattled off five straight submission finishes without even venturing into the third minute of any of those contests.

“It came to me when I started with jiu jitsu,” Dupras said of his attacking style. “Right away at the beginning, it was very natural for me; not easy, but natural. I was not going for any decisions or things like that — I was going for the kill, all the time.

“I continued like that, did amateur, and my amateur career was crazy — pretty much all first round. It’s hard to explain to people that it’s all pretty much first-round, but it was; it was pretty much a movie. Even my jiu jitsu career was the same thing — we just go, choke, bye.

“It was always like that and, for me, it was the way I was training, too,” he added. “I’m always pushing, trying to be the best all the time.”

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Consistently finishing fights at any level is not easy, and to be able to constantly work to, find, and finish submissions when everyone knows they’re coming is even more difficult, and yet in all but one of his first eight appearances, Dupras has been able to march into the cage, find a choke, and collect a finish.

Even he’s not 100-percent sure how it keeps happening, though he does have some ideas.

“Every time — it’s no joke — when I finish a fight with a guillotine or anaconda, I don’t understand how I still do it,” said the promising French-Canadian, who looks to move to 6-0 under the Samourai MMA banner on Friday night.

“I think it’s a mix of instinct and not survival mode, but when it’s time, it’s time and you just go for it and don’t let go,” continued Dupras, trying to break down what he believes helps to allow him to consistently find and compete these submissions. “I think you can train for it, too, when you’re doing your training. I spam — I want to go for finishes all the time and I’m gonna figure out something.

“Guys in the gym know I’m gonna go for it and I still get them, he added, “so I know if someone I train with, knows what I go for, and I still get it, the guy that is training for one month or two months is not going to escape.”

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The next test of that theory comes Friday when he steps in with Arnett, a veteran of the Canadian regional scene that spent his last three fights engaged in a championship trilogy with ex-UFC competitor Ali AlQaisi under the UAE Warriors banner.

Prior to venturing to the Middle East, Arnett was a prominent figure on the Canadian scene, including in Quebec, competing under the TKO banner and claiming gold in the promotion at the same time Dupras was just beginning his journey as a professional mixed martial artist.

“I know him from the era I started,” he said of Arnett. “When I started as a professional, he was on the same card or a similar card. He was always the kind of guy I looked at. I knew the kind of fighter he was and was like, ‘At one point, we’re gonna meet up in the end.’

“I knew I was going to face him one time, and for me it’s an honor. I saw him win the TKO belt and now it’s my turn to show him that now I am the man.”

In addition to being the biggest fight of his career, Friday’s contest is also a homecoming for Dupras.

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“For me, I’m very lucky that Samourai has given me my chance,” began the featherweight hopeful. “When they started back, it was in Montreal, and this show is in Laval. I’m from Laval. The arena is five minutes away from my home; I can walk there.

“It’s something special,” Durpas said of getting to compete in his home province, in general, and his hometown specifically this weekend. “It’s something to go (abroad), but I really like to be a local fighter — have your people come to see you. For me it’s good; it’s some stress, but good stress.

“I’m a guy who likes to bring people. It gives me pressure to be smart and not go too crazy. It puts me in the correct (level of crazy).”

And Friday night, the streaking French-Canadian standout intends to be the correct level of crazy and collect a sixth straight victory.

“I’m the new thing; I don’t think he’s seen someone like me,” Dupras said confidently. “Every fight, but this one especially, it has so much hype on it that I’m excited. I want to prove to everybody that I can do it.

“All the hard work I did my whole life was for this moment right now. This is my first big test, and I’ve worked so hard for it and it’s my moment right now.

“My goal is to do the best performance. The best Fred Dupras is coming June 21.”