Andre Ewell making up for lost times, wants to fight twice at Sept. 19 UFC event
Andre Ewell is prepared to fight twice in a single night on Sept. 19.
The 32-year-old is trying to make up for lost time. After recovering from multiple surgeries, the UFC bantamweight was sidelined while other fighters jumped on the opportunity to fight often during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Back to full health and already scheduled to face Irwin Rivera at UFC on ESPN+ 36 later this month, Ewell is ready to make a quick turnaround. Fighting twice in a single night is a stretch, but Ewell is hopeful.
“For me to automatically fight next week, I’m aiming to either get a fight that night or the following night,” Ewell said.
“I am honestly trying to stay as busy as possible, constantly keeping this boat flowing and moving forward. I got things to do and Andre needs another contract.”
Andre Ewell returns
A lot has happened since Ewell last stepped inside the octagon. Between the Covid-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and the birth of his son, Ewell’s last performance seems like a lifetime ago.
Ewell kicked off 2020 with a split-decision win against Jonathan Martinez at UFC 247 in February. He eventually needed surgery from a broken arm he sustained during the bout. The arm surgery was sandwiched between two separate operations on both of his knees.
He’s managed to train throughout the entire period, whether he worked on kicks while nursing his arm or working on his punches when rehabbing his legs.
“It was going slow for me, I was literally dying in jeopardy of my own mind. I was 100 percent mentally ready to come back, but it is one of the surgeries holding me back. “As soon as I wanted to be in was basically the end of August, not too long ago, but they gave me Sept. 19, which I am definitely all smiles for.”
Staying active
Rivera is one of the more active fighters during the quarantine period. He took a late-notice call for his UFC debut back in May, dropping a unanimous-decision loss to Giga Chikadze at UFC on ESPN 8.
He rebounded three months later with a unanimous-decision victory over newcomer Ali AlQaisi at UFC Fight Night 174 on Aug. 8. It’s given Ewell plenty of footage to watch in the lead up to Sept. 19.
“You can definitely say a lot of weaknesses,” Ewell said. “At the same time, it’s me. I’m like a painter, slash artist when it comes into the cage type thing. I end up seeing a lot of flaws, I even have flaws.”
Stringing it together
Setting himself up for a quick turnaround is key to Ewell, but stringing back-to-back octagon victories is equally as important. Ewell is yet to string two wins together under the UFC banner since making his promotional debut back in September 2018.
A four-fight win streak is what earned him his UFC contract. A win over Rivera would make it two-straight wins for Ewell, moving him to 4-2 inside the octagon.
Andre Ewell waited seven months to earn his second win of 2020.
“It needs to be back-to-back wins for me,” Ewell said. “I know a lot of people feel like that’s a lot of pressure, but to me every night is automatically one of those types of nights. Anything can happen, as long as you can keep your mind frame to keep it positive, it’s going to float in the right direction.”
