Jimmy Flick has finished all but two of his opponents and plans to also finish Malcolm Gordon this weekend at UFC 297.
The main event of 2024’s first PPV sees Sean Strickland attempt to defend his middleweight title against Dricus Du Plessis. Meanwhile, the very first fight of the early prelims pits the 33-year-old Flick against Gordon, fighting in his home country of Canada for the first time since 2019.
Both men are on two-fight losing streaks heading into the fight, leaving them in a potential loser-goes-home situation
Every win that Flick has had dating back to 2012 has ended via submission of some sort. He promises to keep that streak going this weekend.
He said: “I always tell everybody, you know, I predict my hands getting raised at the end of the day. That’s all I care about but in this fight.
“I’m gonna finish Malcolm Gordon. I’m going to take him down, I’m going to maul him and I’m going to tap him out and under three. I’m finishing him.
“You know, this will be my fourth fight in the UFC and I haven’t hit the scorecards [yet] and I don’t plan to hit the scorecards.
“But if I do hit the scorecards, I’m willing to go all 15 minutes and dominate just like I did Nate Smith on the Tuesday Night Contender [Series] before I finished him in the third round.”
Jimmy Flick Says The Only Reason Gordon Is Still in the UFC is Because of Him
In early 2021, Jimmy Flick shocked UFC fans when he suddenly retired from the sport ahead of his scheduled fight with Francisco Figueiredo.
Malcolm Gordon, coming off of two losses, stepped in on short notice to face the Brazilian and ultimately got his hand raised. This encouraged the UFC hierarchy to offer ‘X’ a fresh contract.
The Oklahoman therefore credits this as the reason why Gordon is still in the UFC today.
He said: “If you go back and look at it and realise, a lot of people probably don’t know this but Malcolm Gordon is actually in the UFC because of me. And people are like ‘Well, what do you mean?’
“I retired and after I retired they gave Malcolm Gordon little Fig (Francisco Figueiredo) and he beat little Fig. That got him a new contract, so the only reason he’s in the UFC is because I retired. He fought little Fig, he beat little Fig, he got a new contract.
“Since then he’s lost two fights, he lost to [Muhammad] Mokaev, which he did really, really good against. I do give him praise for that. You know, he gave him, kind of, a run for his money. I think Mokaev underestimated him and I do not underestimate him at all.
“I just believe 100% myself that I am way better than Malcolm Gordon and I plan on proving it. But, I do believe he’s in the UFC based on the fact that I did retire. The world works in mysterious ways and then now I get to fight Malcolm Gordon.”
Jimmy Flick Full Exclusive Interview
You can watch the full interview with Flick below:
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
