Athletes
Neil Magny | 10 Years Running
Tenured Welterweight Discusses Longevity, Consistency Ahead Of Main Event Clash With Carlos Prates
Neil Magny first broke into the Top 15 in the UFC welterweight division on April 13, 2015. He’s remained stationed in that exclusive group for 474 of the 499 weeks (and a couple days) since, including each of the last 230 consecutive weeks.
Scanning the other divisions on the day of that initial appearance, there were less than a dozen additional athletes ranked at the time that currently reside in the rankings now, and many of them have either departed the rankings for extended periods and returned or changed weight classes, meaning there was likely some period where they too fell out of the Top 15 in their respective division for some amount of time.
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Those names include some of the most respected in the sport and are primarily current or former champions, like Stipe Miocic, Dustin Poirier, Max Holloway, Charles Oliveira, Holly Holm, and Julianna Pena. While Magny hasn’t ever reached those championship heights, his consistency and longevity is something that needs to be acknowledged and celebrated.
“The consistency pays off,” Magny said on Wednesday when asked about spending the bulk of the last 10 years stationed in the Top 15 just a few days ahead of his main event clash with Carlos Prates this weekend at the UFC APEX. “I’ll have training partners, peers, the younger guys where they’ll win a fight and you don’t see them for six months, and it’s like, ‘Dude — I thought you wanted to get to this next level? Sure, you’re 24 now, but missing six months, when you come back to the gym, you’re six months closer to being 25. You can’t take that much time off and expect to get the results that you want.’”
He shook his head and laughed upon uttering that last sentence, and it instantly makes you flash to his resume over the course of his 12-year UFC career and the insane schedule he’s kept over that time.
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Magny made his promotional debut in February 2013 with a win over Jon Manley at UFC 157 following each of them competing on season 16 of The Ultimate Fighter. He fought 13 times in his first three years in the UFC, logging five appearances in both 2014 and 2015, and since managing just a single appearance combined between 2018 and 2019 due to injuries, he’s logged another 13 starts, with Saturday’s bout with Prates being his third appearance of 2024.
During the course of that run, the 37-year-old has built one of the stronger strengths of schedules of anyone in the division, surely, but arguably in the promotion during that time, having spent much of the last decade facing either ranked competition or surging talents looking to make serious headway in the 170-pound ranks.
“The majority of the fights that I’ve had and I’ve won, I didn’t have full training camps for,” added Magny. “It wasn’t ’12 weeks’ notice, eight weeks’ notice’ — there have been fights that presented themselves on 14 days’ notice, 10 days’ notice, and we go out there and be successful.
“The biggest thing is constantly trying to evolve and constantly keeping yourself accountable, and that goes for inside and outside the gym. All that stuff comes to the surface when the lights are on, and that consistency is something you can’t replace.”
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What makes his longevity and the big picture consistency he brings to the Octagon all the more impressive is that the Denver-based welterweight has not lost consecutive bouts inside the Octagon since dropping his next two fights after beating Manley in his debut.
Since closing out 2013 with consecutive setbacks, Magny has gone 21-9, putting one or more victories between each setback until recently, as he’s alternated results through each of his last seven outings heading into Saturday’s contest with Prates.
“Everyone likes to say, ‘You win or you learn,’ but sometimes you actually need to sit with the emotion (of losing), like, ‘Man, I lost; I hate this f***ing feeling!’” he said with a quick laugh, asked to explain what has helped him avoidlosing consecutive fights over the last decade. “(That feeling) forces you to do something about it.
“You’ll find yourself sitting there on the couch, eating potato chips, feeling sorry for yourself, and then the moment comes where it’s like, ‘I just lost a fight; what am I doing sitting around? I got work to do!’ How dare I sit back with my feet kicked up, telling myself, ‘Well, you learned.’ No — you lost and it freakin’ sucks. ‘Remember that feeling when you were sitting in the locker room crying? That wasn’t a learning experience; that was a sucky moment in life and you don’t want to feel it again, so go do something about it.’
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“After a win, it’s easy to (exhale) and kick back, but for me, it’s important to avoid that complacency that comes with success or with a win, and keeping that burning desire that comes after a loss,” continued Magny, shifting from a general focus to a more personal one, because as much as he hasn’t lost back-to-back fights in quite some time, he’s also struggled to string together victories, as well.
“That’s where I’ve been inconsistent the last couple years: I’d get a win, get settled, and it goes back down. I’m in that low moment, ‘Gotta get back up,’ work hard, get a win, and it’s ‘This is great!’ but then it’s back down again.
“For me, it’s about finding that consistency and avoiding that complacency that comes with success; maintaining that same desire and drive I have after a loss after a win as well in order to keep building, keep going and putting those five, six, seven-fight winning streaks together.”
When Saturday’s bout with Prates was announced, the general sentiment was that this was another in the long line of what has become a “typical Neil Magny assignment” — a date with an emerging talent in the welterweight ranks that needs to get through the tenured, talented veteran in order to prove they’re ready to hang with the best the division has to offer.
On one hand, that is very much the case, as Prates has amassed three consecutive stoppage wins during his impressive rookie campaign in the UFC to arrive on the doorstep of the Top 15, and is looking to use this bout with Magny as his chance to catapult himself into the rankings and onto even greater opportunities in Year 2 and beyond.
But just like each of the previous “typical Neil Magny assignments” prior to this weekend, it’s also another chance for the eponymous competitor in this scenario to once again show why he has long been trusted in this role, and to prove, to himself and others, that he’s still not interested in losing consecutive contests or relinquishing his place in the rankings.
“It’s less about them and more about me at this point,” offered the affable veteran, who kicked off his 2024 campaign by stopping Mike Malott at UFC 297 in Toronto before landing on the wrong side of things against unbeaten prospect Michael Morales last time out in August. “Sure, it’s me ruining someone’s night, but, at the end of the day, it’s me showing that I can be consistent, I can be a force to be reckoned with in this division and do have a lot of fight left in me.
“I said yes to this fight before I had an opponent because it’s less about him and more about me saying, ‘I’m still here, I’m still able to fight with the best in the world,’ and I’m ready to go out there and show that, regardless of who it is."
UFC Fight Night: Magny vs Prates 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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