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Josh Fremd Goes All In For UFC Rebound
Josh Fremd Faces Abdul Razak Al Hassan In A Middleweight Clash This Saturday At UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Taira
Sometimes, the best plan is the simplest one. For Josh Fremd, his plan for this weekend’s fight with Abdul Razak Alhassan is to win.
That’s it.
“A win is always moving in the right direction, and the direction that I'm trying to get to right now is win two fights in a row and get a new contract,” he said.
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See, we don’t have to overanalyze everything. At the APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday, Fremd meets Alhassan and both middleweights will be doing whatever it takes to get their hand raised in victory. Fremd knows that feeling; he also knows what it’s like to get his hand raised in back-to-back fights in the UFC. But after a pair of losses to Roman Kopylov and Andre Petroski, he’s coming into this one with a little more urgency.
Literally and figuratively, given Alhassan’s ability to cut someone’s night short with one punch. Fremd’s Factory X teammate, Cody Brundage, found that out in July. Unfortunately, follow-up shots to the back of the head led to a no contest result, but the fact remains that preparing for Alhassan is unlike prepping for anyone else. And Fremd has responded accordingly.
“There's really not much to even talk about his (Brundage’s) fight with him (Alhassan), because Cody and I are completely different types of fighters,” he said. “So I just need Cody as a teammate and I have other teammates who are just going to try and take my head off and punch me in the face as hard as they can. What I grew up on is hard sparring. That's how I came up and I've gotten away from it recently, but with this guy, I need it. I need it.”
Josh Fremd Secures Guillotine Choke vs Dumas | UFC Fight Night: Yan vs Dvalishvili
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Josh Fremd Secures Guillotine Choke vs Dumas | UFC Fight Night: Yan vs Dvalishvili
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And despite this jump into the fire approach in camp, Fremd is not interested in seeing just how hard his opponent hits.
“I don't believe he's stronger than me or more powerful than me in the punching aspect, and if it was wrestling, yeah, maybe I'd say that, but no, I don't want to go out there and let him punch me in the face and see if I can take it,” he laughs.
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I join him, and you have to ask, because fighters have egos, and it might be a psychological edge for anyone who takes Alhassan’s best and laughs at it. But that’s the good part of that 50/50 equation. The other side is waking up with the referee telling you what just happened. So Fremd is just thinking about executing his game plan – whatever it takes. Because assuming you’ve got a favorable matchup and a clear win doesn’t always work out. Just ask him about the Petroski fight in July.
“Honestly, there was nothing in my brain that told me I was going to lose to Andre Petroski,”
Fremd said. “I thought that style was made for me; I fought wrestlers my entire life. But I just didn't perform. Run that back, and eight times out of 10, I think I win that fight. But I think that this particular style is a good style for me. He's not going to come out here and out wrestle me. He's not going to out grapple me. If I am dumb and I let him punch me in the face really, really hard many times, then it's going to be a hard night for me. But if I do the things that I'm supposed to do and what I know I'm capable of doing, it should be an easy night for me.”
As for a rematch with Petroski or the other fighters who hold a win over him in the Octagon, he takes a realistic view of that possibility.
“I let it go because, at the end of the day, in this sport, you're not really going to come across too many, especially on the level that I'm at,” Fremd said. “I'm not in the Top 10, I'm not fighting for a title, I'm still trying to make my bones in the UFC. So there really is no such thing for us as a rematch. What I like to think of is, okay, the next time I come across that particular style, I'm going to do this better. So it's never a face, it's never a person or an individual. It's more a style of fighting.”
Fremd, 30, sounds like he’s in a good place in his career. He hasn’t figured everything out yet, but he knows enough to make a move. And he’s hungry. That’s the key.
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“Let's be honest, I've never had crazy aspirations to become a UFC champion, but I've had crazy expectations for myself as to when I make it to UFC, not if I make it to the UFC, that I put forth my best effort performances and all that,” Fremd said. “And I believe that I have not done that yet. I might've been in close fights, but I just haven't performed to the level that I know that I'm capable of. And if I don't do that, that will definitely be a huge regret in life. But I'm going to do everything in my power and try my hardest to make it happen.”
So, no championship ambitions for the Pittsburgh native? It’s deeper than that.
“For everyone, it's different,” he said. “Like I said, I didn't get into MMA to be a champion. I have a couple of championship belts and I fought for a couple belts that I didn't win, but it was never the material or the title for me. I'm not a very egotistical guy. I wanted to do this just for an outlet. I wanted to do this to fight some personal demons. And for me now, it still gives me the calmness that I desire. I don't feel anxiety, I don't feel depressed most of the time anymore because I have training, I have fighting in my life and I'm at the highest level of fighting. I want to do the best I can, but I'm not out here every day like, ‘Oh my God, I got to be a champion or it's a failure.’ I think, for me, personally, winning 10 fights in the UFC would be amazing. To say I did something that I was going to do when I was 13 years old is an amazing thing for me.”
UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Taira took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 12, 2024. 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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