Photo via lcasportsmanagement.com
Bobby Poulter talks BFL 68 bout on UFC Fight Pass
Bobby Poulter tests skills against Kennan Kellar at BFL 68 on September 30th. This contest broadcasts on UFC Fight Pass and emanates from Vancouver, British Columbia.
I spoke with Poulter ahead of this one and excerpts from our conversation are below.
Who Poulter has been working with as of late
“In the last few months, it’s definitely stabled out a little bit. At first it was hard, especially with Parabellum (MMA) closing down at the same time. So, you know, Parabellum was like a hub for everyone to come from all over. From Muskoka and London, we had the best guys coming in from everywhere. Just to spar and to train until, you know, it’s definitely very different now. We still have our core team from Para obviously. Kyran Cameron, Serhiy Sidey. We got lots of good guys out. So, I’m still able to get my sparring rounds. It’s a little more challenging in my weight class, right.”
“Because a couple of guys that were my training partners. Actually, both Scott Hudson and Kyran Cameron, are now moving down a weight class to ’55. So, you know it’s tougher to find guys your size, but I made it work. I’ve got a couple of other guys around. I got like Tom Theo(charis), when Aaron Jeffery’s in town, obviously. So you know I’m making it work. It’s definitely not as easy as it used to be. But you’ve just got to take some accountability for your career route. And that’s something that I never had to do. It was always so easy you know I needed training partners, I just show up at Para(bellum). And now I got a message them, I gotta harass guys to come out.”
Bobby Poulter
Adapting his training amid the global pandemic
“When Parabellum closed, Me and Scott Hudson opened our own facility. It was a smaller facility but without that, we would have literally had nowhere to be. So we took it in our own hands, you know, the team is running smoothly through there. It’s not a huge facility, but it gets the job done for now.”
“Hopefully, Lyndon Whitlock and Lucas Chaston those guys will open a new facility soon and we can be back to our regularly scheduled programming (laughs). But everything’s okay. There’s never been a time in my life where I was like, I have no training partners. And that’s not something that every fighter has gone through, right. Some fighters are like I literally have no training partners right now. Because they’ve got to isolate or whatever they don’t want to to go to that local gym anymore. So, something.”
Bobby Poulter continued, “A little inside tip, Lyndon and Lucas are working on something big in the coming weeks. So I’m very excited for them. And I think that it won’t take much for them to be back to reclaim the glory that they had before.”
BFL
Having a multi-bout Battlefield Fight League deal and possible BFL as well as BTC championship opportunities
“Obviously, I’m solely focused on this one but I’m very excited for after this one. Even the next one because I would like to start competing for regional belts pretty soon. I’ve had two pro fights now. And it was a shame that my momentum got stopped by the pandemic. But the only momentum that stopped was the actual fighting but I’ve never stopped training. I’m a different version of myself now than when I fought (Bryce) Gougeon in PFC.”
“So I could see it in the next year or two. I could see myself holding a few regionals. Maybe BFL, maybe BTC. I think that that’s kind of hard to tell what’s next for who. Because, you know, whoever gives me the best opportunities.”
The momentum from his last bout at PFC 13 and not having fought in over a year and a half
“Oh yeah, it was really different right. Because you know five days earlier I was at a packed nightclub at Rebel. Fighting in front of hundreds of people and then all of a sudden, you’re not even allowed to go see your next-door neighbors. So it was tough in all aspects of life. But at that time, I didn’t realize the magnitude of this. I didn’t realize how much impact it would really have. A lot of them was like you know in a few weeks, everything will be okay. Everyone’s going to figure their shit out. Obviously, it didn’t.”
BFL 68
Bobby Poulter continued, “So that was an interesting part of my career because it pushed me to focus on my development as an athlete. Because I had been constantly competing. Not being able to fight for a year and a half, I’ve changed my style. Changed my methods. I changed my training regime so much that I don’t even recognize myself anymore. It’s beautiful.”
Parting thoughts for Bobby Poulter
“I appreciate you making time. Sorry I somehow missed the earlier session. I was a little out of it last week…So I’ve been grinding when I came back. I feel better than ever and honestly better than I thought I would. So my bad for that one.”
