Blake Bilder talks upcoming debut at UFC 284 and his nonprofit
Blake Bilder doesn’t care about what the internet has to say, so when he sees trash talk on social media or when he’s asked about traveling to another country to fight in his opponent’s backyard, he’s not phased.
That maturity sounds like a veteran who has experienced it all, but Bilder is just getting his UFC career started as he’ll be making his UFC debut at UFC 284 on Feb. 11.
So far Bilder has been poised throughout his career as he showed patience on the regional scene just to get an opportunity on Dana White’s Contender.
Once he got the opportunity, he was made the most of it as he picked up a submission win on the show to get his contract and then his story really took off.
One part of the story was his age, as UFC president Dana White made a comment on the show about giving a contract out to a 32-year-old. Of course, that comment didn’t faze Bilder at all as it rolled right off his back.
Then the part of his story that really hit home was the emotions he showed when remembering his brother who had passed away. Bilder used his moment following the win to talk about his brother and the importance of mental health.
These stories have been impactful and now Bilder will be able to hopefully make a great impression on the world as he has a great platform now that he’s in the UFC.
First up on his UFC journey will be a trip to Australia to fight Shane Young on the massive UFC 284 fight card.
Prior to that fight, Bilder spoke with MyMMANews about the upcoming pay per view event, his excitement for his debut and his plugged his nonprofit which helps homeless families in the Philippines.
You can watch his full interview in the video above.
A list of fights scheduled for UFC 284 are listed below:
UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev vs. UFC Featherweight Champion Alex
Volkanovski – for the UFC lightweight title
Yair Rodriguez vs. Josh Emmett – UFC interim featherweight title fight
Jack Della Maddalena vs. Randy Brown
Tyson Pedro vs. Zhang Mingyang
Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis
Justin Tafa vs. Parker Porter
Josh Culibao vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield
Shannon Ross vs. Kleydson Rodrigues
Joel Alvarez vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
Loma Lookboonmee vs. Elise Reed
Blake Bilder vs. Shane Young