Athletes
George Mangos | One Down, Two To Go
Australian Expecting More From Himself As Road To UFC Rolls On In Shanghai
George Mangos entered the Road to UFC Season 5 featherweight tournament looking for two things: first was an opportunity to gain a significant amount of experience in a relatively short amount of time by logging three fights this year, and second was to make his mark by blowing out the competition on his way to winning the whole darn thing.
After a first-round stoppage win over Yuito Yanagawa in Macau in May, it’s one down, two to go for the confident Australian, though he wasn’t overly satisfied with his performance in the quarterfinals.
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“It was good; I was happy that I got the finish,” began Mangos, who faces off with China’s Ahejiang Ailinuer on Friday. “I wasn’t overall happy with the performance —I wanted it to be more dominant and give my opponent less moments, but we got the job done. I had a hard camp, a rough camp, and a rough weight-cut, so when I was talking to my manager after, and I told him that, he said, ‘That’s alright — the best fighters win on their worst days,’ and that’s what I did on that day.
“I think although it’s not what I wanted, it’s probably a blessing in disguise, I guess because this camp has been the best one ever, by far; not even close,” Mangos said. “I just hate not being satisfied with my performances because you don’t get to fight very often — two or three a year, if you’re lucky — so you’ve got to live with that performance for the time in between each one, and it just eats away at you.”
To be clear: his performance was, overall, very good, as he was able to dispatch Yanagawa in a little more than three minutes, finishing him with a series of knees and punches along the fence, advancing to 9-1 in the process. But Mangos got hit a little more than he wanted and came away with a cut on the bridge of his nose, two things he definitely wants to correct this time around.
But just as he said heading into his opening round pairing, he’s trying to keep a bigger picture view of things while simultaneously not looking beyond each fight, and in that wide-angle view of things, getting through the opening round the way that he did and putting another training camp, another fight week, and another fight behind him is precisely why he signed up for this season’s tournament.
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“With each fight I’m having now, I’m getting more and more ready for the UFC,” Mangos said. “I think this Road to UFC is perfect for me because —I think I was saying last time —it’s just gonna give me more experience, more fights, more fight weeks, more weight cuts, more camps, and I’ll be ready for the UFC when I’m finished this tournament.”
To get to the finale, Mangos first must contend with Ahejiang this week in Shanghai.
The 27-year-old carries a 17-3 record and four-fight winning streak into their semifinal showdown on Friday, having punched his ticket to the final four with a unanimous decision win over South Korea’s GwanWoo Lim in May. He leaned on his grappling, closing the distance against the much taller Lim, wrestling him to the canvas repeatedly, and rolling to a clean sweep of the scorecards.
“I watched a bit while I was warming up, then I watched it again once or twice during this camp,” Mangos said. “I haven’t really watched too many of his fights before —he hasn’t fought the best people —so I tried to only watch the last one, but like I said, I didn’t spend too much time because I’m more focused on myself. It’s like Conor McGregor says and Bruce Lee says, ‘There is no opponent.’ It’s just you in there — you are the opponent —and that’s all you can focus on is yourself. He can do whatever he wants, prepare however he wants, and I’m just gonna focus on me.”
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And if everything goes as he envisions, Friday’s matchup with Ahejiang will have the same result as his matchup with Yanagawa, but with his performance being cranked up a notch or two.
“I think he’s gonna come hard and try to wrestle, set the pace, and I’m just gonna not be there. I’m gonna stuff his shots, he gonna walk into my shots, and that’s the plan is just to make it my fight and make it look easier.”
As for who he faces in the finale, Mangos was completely non-plussed, believing his two opponents have been the toughest matchups possible thus far, and that regardless of who emerges victorious between Dagiisuren Chagnaadorj and YoungJae Song, neither is going to pose any threat.
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“I think the hardest two matchups in the whole tournament were my last opponent and this opponent. I think the (other two semifinalists) were subpar in their last fight, and I’m happy with either one. I can’t remember what their names are. I think the South Korean guy will try to wrestle if I fight him, so that’s a bit boring; maybe the other guy would be good —he seems a bit more exciting and I think he’ll be easier to knock out, which is what I’m looking for.
“Either way, I think I finish both of them,” he added. “But like you said, we’re not gonna look past Ahejiang because that’s who I’ve got to get through on Friday first, and then either way, they’ll both end the same in the final as well.”
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