Athletes
John Castaneda Feels Motivated And Ready To Go
After Fighting Just Once In 2024, John Castaneda Hopes His Fight At UFC Fight Night: Kape vs Almabayev Is The Start Of A Busy And Successful Year
John Castaneda got a new contract. What did he get as a present? Douglas Silva de Andrade, a nightmare matchup for anyone. But as Castaneda approaches Saturday’s matchup with the Brazilian, he couldn’t be happier.
“I love matchups like this,” he said. “I love matchups where it's a big strong guy with lower output and who’s more of a power striker. The reason being is because it's just easier to see. It's easier to see big power shots versus a guy who's just in your face throwing 3, 4, 5 punch combinations. That's just my opinion. I prefer fighting guys like him, and I think it kind of shows in my history.”
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Castaneda points to one of his best UFC wins – a 2022 submission of Miles Johns – as an example of what he can do with someone with a similar approach to the sport.
“Johns and him have a very similar style,” They recently just fought each other, but they have very similar styles in the sense of that they're both low volume power strikers and they're kind of easy to anticipate, if you will. Not a lot of creativity in them, but still dangerous, way more dangerous than a lot of people. But I thrive in those situations. I thrive in those types of matchups. I feel like I really like the style and I really like the matchup, and I think it's going to be a good fight, for sure. He's, he's a veteran of the sport and I'm excited to see what I can do against him.”
Castaneda is excited to fight anybody at this point, considering that he’s been on the sidelines since a decision loss to Daniel Marcos last June. It not only broke the Minnesotan’s two-fight winning streak, but also his two-year run of having at least two fights a year. He hopes to rectify that in 2025.
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“I've been trying to stay a little bit more active, but I take them as they come,” he said. “I was trying to get one more in late last year, but it just wasn't lining up with anything that I could take. I got offered a fight, but it was very short notice. It was maybe like three weeks’ notice and it's not that I wasn't training. I train year-round, whether I have a fight or not. I'm training five or six days a week. The biggest thing for me is whether I can make the weight with those short notice fights. I'm a big boy sometimes.”
He laughs, but weight will be an issue on at least one side of the Octagon (not his), as the Silva de Andrade fight will now be fought at a catchweight of 140 pounds. Not ideal for Castaneda, but he’s been preparing for a big bantamweight throughout camp, and he will adjust accordingly once the Octagon door shuts. And as far as the high risk, low reward scenario, the 33-year-old is all positive vibes and thinking simply about the win, not where a win puts him.
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“I think it's one of those matchups where it definitely obviously doubles my paycheck with a win, but I also think that it gets me back on track,” he said. “We're coming off a loss against Daniel Marcos, and this gets me right back to where I should be, which is in the win column. Three wins out of my last four fights. That sounds a lot better than coming off a loss. You’ve got three wins out of your last four, and your last win is against a tough guy who's got some established wins in the company. So that's what I'm looking forward to the most, just getting right back in the win column and we'll go from there. We’ll keep climbing the ladder and we'll keep getting better.”
That’s the way you break in a new contract.
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“We're looking at staying busy,” Castaneda said. “Obviously, I'm kind of getting in a little bit earlier in March. I'm looking to get another one in June and then one at the end of the year. I got a new contract, we're motivated and we're ready to go.”
UFC Fight Night: Kape vs Almabayev took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 1, 2025. 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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