Steve Garcia | Real Recognizes Real

“It’s great, man; it’s a blessing,” said the humble Dana White’s Contender Series alum, when asked about headlining in the UFC for the first time. “I’ve said this a couple of times, and I keep saying it because it came to fruition: in my gym in my house, I have all the posters (from the events) I participated in on the wall, and I was telling my dad, ‘I like having all these posters, but there’s none with my face on it. I’m gonna get one with my face on it; you watch.’

“Now it’s come to fruition and it’s one of my own, so that’s one for the books, at least in my book.”

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Saturday’s main event pairing with Onama is exactly what Garcia asked for earlier this year after extending his winning streak to six with a unanimous decision victory over Calvin Kattar. Standing in the Octagon alongside Daniel Cormier, the former two-division champion asked the surging featherweight, “What would you like to see next time you step into the Octagon,” and the first words out of Garcia’s mouth were “I’d love to headline an APEX card or something like that with some of these guys that are phenomenal that are coming up; an Onama, an Emmett, Zalal.”

Having spoken his future into existence, I asked the 12th-ranked featherweight why he set his sights on headlining at the APEX and fighting another ascending threat like Onama rather than taking aim at someone further up the divisional ranks.

His layered answer was the kind of response that should make you want to root for a guy like him to succeed long term.

“It was more or less just being realistic,” began Garcia, who posted five straight finishes during this run before going the distance against Kattar in July. “Everybody in the Top 5 is just sitting on their hands thinking they’re gonna get the next title shot, which is irritating to me. They’re all thinking, ‘Oh, I’m gonna be the next title contender,’ and it’s like, ‘Volk can only fight one person and he’s out there cooking!’

“While they’re all trying to debate who is gonna get the next title shot, I’m just gonna keep doing what I’m doing. While everyone else is waiting, I’m gonna go to work. One, this is how I provide for my family, and two, this is just part of it. There is no easy way to the top. I’ve been at the very bottom, and I had to crawl and climb up to this position; I had to beat everybody to be at this particular spot.”

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When he spoke with the late Thomas Gerbasi before the fight with Kattar in Nashville, Garcia told him, “I don’t have the luxury of stardom,” suggesting that the way he fights, the performances he puts forth are going to be what continue to dictate where he falls on the call sheet and the opportunities that come his way.

I told him it was one of the better ways I’ve heard the difference between those with a following and a spotlight constantly on them and those doing good work in the shadows expressed, and he dove back into the depths of that thinking.

“It puts a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “My whole life, I have always been counted out. I’m not this big dude, screaming and hollering, or some rah-rah dude, but one thing I can do is hit you in your face, and if I do, I promise it will sit you on you’re a**! I’ve always relied on that, and when you come out of Albuquerque, man, you don’t really hear of too many people that thrive that come from this place.

“I’m living the Rocky Balboa storyline more than anything else,” continued Garcia. “I didn’t have a name, I didn’t have this big old following, I didn’t have a country behind me; I’m just a kid outta Albuquerque, New Mexico that was lucky enough to not quit. That’s my story: is that I didn’t quit!

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“I kept pushing through, kept fighting, and I feel like I earned my spot here in the gym, and then on the regional scene, and then finally I was able to get the opportunity to go fight for the UFC. After a few adjustments and some speed bumps that I needed, I was able to figure it out and look where we’re at now — Top 15!”

Having cobbled together the wins needed to climb into the ranking and land his first main event assignment this weekend, Garcia has no plans on stopping now, and looks to a pair of beloved stars that travelled similar paths (and shared the cage together a couple times) as shining examples of how sticking to the path and staying true to who you are can be enough to lift a fighter out of the shadows, even if it takes a little time.