Athletes
Modestas Bukauskas | Poised And Prepared
Light Heavyweight Modestas Bukauskas Is Ready For An Exciting Bout As He Steps Into The Octagon Against Ion Cutelaba At UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena
Modestas Bukauskas has never been one for trash talk and pre-fight antics and gamesmanship.
It’s just not his style. But when he meets up with Ion Cutelaba at the weigh-in for their UFC 315 bout in Montreal, and again on fight night at the Bell Centre, he is well aware that he might see the usual intensity from “The Hulk.”
And he’s okay with it.
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“If someone's going to be all intense, up in my grill, and stuff like that, this is part of the fight game and you've got to be ready for that,” said Bukauskas. “You can't expect every single time that everyone's going to be shaking hands and smiling at you because, ultimately, we're there to beat each other's ass. We're not there to sit and have tea in the middle of the cage.”
Bukauskas laughs, likely unable to picture Moldova’s Cutelaba sitting calmly with a cup of tea in the Octagon, or anywhere, for that matter. But as far as the fight goes with the light heavyweight veteran, he knows what to expect.
“I just embrace it, and I know that Ion’s going to come with that intensity and that ferocity, and this is just part of the fight game,” he said. “And the more you get used to that, the better it is for you later on down the line anyways, because not everyone's here to be your friend. Yeah, maybe friends after the fight, but definitely leading up to the fight, no one's your friend. At the end of the day, you've got to go out there and you've got to try and beat them into submission. So you've got to go in with that mentality. And I think that's part of my maturing process as an athlete as well.”
Maturity is a good way to describe the evolution of the 31-year-old Bukauskas. A far cry from the fighter who put together a 1-3 record in his first stint in the UFC in 2020-21, “The BalticGladiator” took a “me against the world” approach in his quest to get back on the roster, and after two wins in the Cage Warriors promotion, he was invited back in 2023. What resulted is a 4-1 record with back-to-back finishes of Marcin Prachnio and Rafael Cerqueira, and while he still keeps a chip on his shoulder just in case, the fact is that few are doubting him anymore. At least that’s what the world sees. In Bukauskas’ universe, the work is not done yet.
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“I keep getting more logs that get added to the fire of proving people wrong and stuff like that,” he said. “It actually keeps growing, to be honest with you.”
Having that approach may sound stressful and unhealthy, but in Bukauskas’ case, it’s keeping him moving in a light heavyweight division that is undergoing a changing of the guard in a lot of ways, with the young guns starting to make their move on the veterans at the top of the class. So while some might embrace the attention that comes along with success at the highest level of the sport, Bukauskas is content with his phone not ringing as he prepares for battle.
“The same circle that has been there with me through all the bad times is still there with me in the good times,” he said. “And I noticed in 2023, when I just got signed to the UFC again, I got a lot of attention very quickly and I realized it was just very fickle and I kind of just got caught up in that a little bit. But it's weird, because the more I'm going towards my goal, the more God is trying to push me in the direction of where I need to go. So, for example, phone calls from certain people to go out and do stuff, those conversations don't even happen anymore. The only things that come to fruition in my life right now is essentially going to training, coming home, resting, and recovering. I almost feel like it's just God's way of clearing the path for me. He's like, okay, you need to stay on the straight and narrow.”
Staying on the straight and narrow includes long days in the gym with Tom Aspinall and his crew, and plenty of rest to get ready for the next training session. It’s not glamorous, but the sacrifices are paying off, and with a third consecutive win this weekend, Bukauskas could find himself knocking on the door of the Top 15 or bashing down that door.
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“The division's pretty much wide open and with an impressive win, I'll definitely be looking at a Top 15 matchup after that. And then I just keep working my way up the ranks. I even looked at it the other day, and Dominick Reyes is now 35. It's mad because I always thought of him as being the 29, 30-year-old rising star. And obviously now he's gone on a bit of a tear, but he's 35. So yeah, in the division, everything just comes and goes very quickly so you’ve got to make the most of it and strike while the iron's hot. That's essentially the position where I'm at now. When you're on a streak, you want to just keep it going and keep it rolling because two, three more fights, you're looking at a title shot. The division's very wide open and it's very exciting, so it just makes me want to work harder and makes me want to go out there and perform because the routeto gold seems a lot more clear.”
The next part of that route begins in Montreal.
“He's going to be all in your face and he's going to come out aggressive,” Bukauskas says of Cutelaba. “But, at the end of the day, the stoic, calm, yet aggressive, mindset that I'm going to bring is definitely going to trump that. I can feel it. You've got to go right into that fire and that's what I'm basically going to do. I've already prepared myself mentally for what he has to bring. And the more you prepare for it and you know that it's coming, then when it's actually there, you are much more prepared for it. I’m excited to get that energy.”
And excited to get the microphone post-fight, because he’s got a plan that he isn’t spilling the beans on until Saturday night.
“I'm not going to reveal anything quite yet because there's only one fight that I really want,” Bukauskas said. “I'll leave it until the post-fight speech to reveal all that to everyone. First, I'm looking to go into this fight, put on an absolute performance, and I need to carry on with the same theme as I started the year with, to make some noise. I started off a little bit of that in February, and now in May I've got to continue on that same road. I've got to make some noise. So the only way I'm going to do that is if I win and win impressively and that's what I set out to go and do.”
UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena, live from Bell Centre in Montréal, Québec, Canada on May 10, 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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