British heavyweight Stuart Austin has revealed he is feeling excited ahead of his Oktagon MMA debut this weekend.
The 34-year-old heads for the European promotion after a brief stint with the PFL, where he picked up one win and two losses.
He is now set to face John Winter this weekend at Oktagon 42 in Bratislava, Slovakia. It will be the first Oktagon MMA outing for both athletes.
Austin spoke to Taylor Collard in an exclusive interview for Combat Sports UK and detailed his excitement about signing with the promotion.
He said: “I’m really excited. So far, everything’s been great, they’re easy to deal with when I was talking contracts. We’re kind of on the same page in terms of where I want my career to progress.
“I’m really excited and all I hear from people who’ve been out there [Slovakia], and what I’ve seen from videos is what an excited fanbase there is out there. There’s a lot of people out there who love fighting, they want to watch, it’s going to be big crowds. So, it’s insane, it’s nice to be a part of that.
“For me, the biggest thing that perturbed me a little bit is sneaking me onto an undercard. I’m not sure why that’s happened.
“Everyone’s kind of full themselves but I feel like I’m gonna be there putting on a show, there’s gonna be 500 lbs [inside the cage] and we’re going to be looking to finish.
“I’m looking to win this, I wanna be in title contention this year so I’m gonna have to make it exciting and make sure that people do see it.”
Stuart Austin on His Goals With Oktagon MMA
The Oktagon MMA heavyweight title is currently vacant and while ‘He-Man’ isn’t overlooking his upcoming opponent, he has goals of getting gold around his waist quickly.
He said. “For me, right now, I have one fight. As far as I’m concerned there’s one fight and there’s nothing else.
“Assuming that goes well, I wanna be fighting for the title this year and when I signed with them I sort of spoke to them [and said] ‘I’m gonna have a fairly quick route to the title’.
“I’m not here to do six fights and then fight for the belt. I want either my second or third fight to be for the belt. That’s how I wanna be.
“Obviously, I’ve gotta play my part. I’ve got to win for a start and if I look good winning that’s gonna help. People are gonna be excited, people are gonna want to watch.
“Ideal situation next weekend is getting the finish, moving on from that. They’re coming to the UK towards the end of the year, in the autumn, up in Manchester. Whether I’m fighting for the belt then or defending the belt, that’s what I’ve got in my head.
“It should be exciting, I feel like I’m coming into the organisation at a good time, they’re really wanting to make big waves in the UK and I wanna be a part of it.”
Stuart Austin Full Exclusive Interview
You can watch the full interview with Stuart Austin below:
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Featured image credits to candicecaulfield.photo
