Skip to main content
Fury FC Standout Kody Steele Discusses His Favorite Fight And The Highlight Reel-Driven Style That Has Led To A Second Consecutive Year On The UFC FIGHT PASS Fighters To Watch List.
UFC Fight Pass

Fury FC's Kody Steele Reflects On His Last Bout | UFC FIGHT PASS

Fury FC Standout Kody Steele Discusses His Favorite Fight And The Highlight Reel-Driven Style That Has Led To A Second Consecutive Year On The UFC FIGHT PASS Fighters To Watch List
By Austin Morales • Jan. 30, 2024

Following a breakout 2023, Kody Steele looks to further establish his name in the MMA world after his strongest performance to date.

When your confidence sets the bar, you expect the results to follow. This is more than the case for the Fury FC lightweight, whose grappling background is only a layer of what he brings to MMA.



His skillset, combined with his confidence, show a fighter who’s not planning on staying under the radar for long. Steele’s MMA resume includes highlight reel finishes and two dominant unanimous decisions in impressive showings. Through every one of the professional wins that make up his 5-0 record, Steele points to his most recent bout with Nico Echeverry as his favorite.

“I feel like I have a couple fights that I did where they were good for me because I had to fight,” Steele said. “I’ll say Sam Kilmer wasn’t my favorite fight, but it was a fight that made me grow a lot. Then I would say when I fought (Nicholas) Whitehead, I feel like that was my coming out party, where I felt good and I was like ‘Cool, this guy is gonna strike with me, I’ll put it on him.’ I would say my favorite fight [though] is when I fought Nico, just because he tested me in there a bit.”

A big knee, combined with a flurry of punches, put Echeverry down in the second round, handing him the most devastating loss of his career at the hands of the surging prospect.



“I’ve seen him get hit a little bit, but he’s tough; he doesn’t get put away, for sure,” Steele said. “Being able to finish him and put it on him, that felt good for me.”

In spite of the grappling pedigree that put him on the map, Steele has adopted a fan-friendly attack that includes a comfort in exchanging in the pocket and routinely throwing bad-intentioned strikes. They say styles make fights, and it’s this exact style that Steele looks for in an opponent.

“If the guy is coming out to come kill and come fight, those are the guys I want to fight,” Steele explained.



Echeverry had no problem bringing the fight to Steele, landing several big right hands in the first round that kept Steele accessing the creative side of his brain with his back against the wall.

 

He may have found himself in five straight barnburners to kick off his career, but to any opponent thinking of Steele’s desire to brawl as a vulnerability would be sorely mistaken.



“I feel like if I was on the outside watching that fight, I think maybe sometimes somebody would’ve been like, ‘Oh, Steele does this wrong’ or ‘He leaves this hole open,’” Steele explains. “When you’re in the cage with me it’s different because I’m making you look out for so many different things, whether I’m going to take you down or I’m gonna throw some heavy hands on you. It doesn’t matter what’s going to happen, I’m going to bring a fight to these people and I’m going to bring them to deep waters.”

Steele has the UFC Octagon in his crosshairs and it’s thanks to fights like his war with Echeverry that he’s grown from. Battle tested and tough as nails, it’s not just any prospect who can finish the American Combative Systems’ product.



“He’s such a veteran and he’s got a lot of fights; I was able to weather through some situations and I felt like I was in a real fight. I feel like beating him just gave me a lot of confidence.”

Confidence is at an all-time high for the 2024 Fight Pass Fighter to Watch who’s finding himself running out of stiff competition in the Fury cage.

“I think everybody is tough and good,” Steele explained. “But when it comes down to it, I think I beat everyone on this regional scene.”



Steele feels he’s one win away from a UFC call, and he eyes a March or April return to the cage. And with a recent move to Las Vegas to hone in on MMA training, Steele just may look even more dangerous.



“I also don’t mind waiting a little bit and fighting in April so I can really sink in here, get a schedule going, get a routine going and then the next time I fight I’ll be a different version of myself or a better version.”



Will the 2024 UFC FIGHT PASS Fighter to Watch close out the year in the UFC or the Fury FC cage? Only time will tell!



For the greatest action across the world of combat sports, sign up TODAY for UFC FIGHT PASS!