Photo credit to Bryce Logan's Tapology page.
Bryce Logan on Bellator 251 “it’s been a 10-year journey to get to this point”
Bryce Logan will fight Georgi Karakhanyan at Bellator 251. It goes down on November 5th and the lightweight affair takes place on the prelims of this Thursday card.
Below are several excerpts from my conversation with Bryce Logan ahead of this bout.
Being Henry Corrales’ main sparring partner the last couple of camps/ Fight Ready overall
“Over the last year, it’s been great to see a lot of personal growth. Just from working with higher-level training partners over here at Fight Ready. Just kind of picking the brains of everybody that’s in the room. Henry and there’s a handful of guys that are in the UFC right now. Guys that were in the UFC trying to get back in. It’s just a really competitive room every day. I feel like I get a little better every day and learn. Maybe a little different way of doing one thing or pick up a technique here or there, but just a wealth of knowledge to be passed around in there.”
Fight Ready
Corrales cornering him during his LFA title win
“I knew that was my ticket. I feel like I’ve been on the doorstep for a couple of years now. All my losses, those guys, were able to catapult and jumpstart their careers, kind of off of beating me. Nate Andrews got signed to PFL immediately after beating me. Grant Dawson ended up in the UFC a few fights after beating me. Te Edwards was an early loss in my career but to see him go on and be successful in reaching the UFC as well you know, you don’t want to put a lot of stock in your losses, but, you know, I wasn’t losing to bums.”
“It kind of helped me light a fire and I knew going in against Jacob, I was like, if there ever was a time like this is the one where I need to need to make that leap. Get to that next level. I went in there with a plan and I executed that plan and things have kind of fell in line after that as I expected them to….A win is going to really raise my stock and put me right in the mix at 155. Especially with Chandler leaving and some of the other stalwarts at that weight class kind of reaching the twilight of their career. I feel like I jumped into Bellator at a great time. I’m super thankful that Bellator had the faith to put me in there with a game opponent right off the bat.”
Bellator 251
Promotional return and if there’s a redemptive element
“I’m looking at this as a fresh start like I had that fight with Bellator. But when I took that fight, I knew it was a one-off. I knew it was a one-fight deal. I knew I would have to have done something very, very spectacular to have secured a contract from that fight. Because even Demarques (Jackson), he won that fight. Me and him eventually stayed totally close after that…. He was a little surprised he wasn’t offered anything afterwards either.”
“But I think I knew going in that was kind of a one-off fight and I wasn’t sure if that was going to parlay into a contract or not. But like you said, I was pretty confident that an LFA title was going to give me the bargaining power I needed to secure myself a long term contract. So I’m looking at this as a fresh start, man. I’m a totally different fighter than I was the last time I stepped in the Bellator cage.”
Bellator MMA
Training so closely with Henry Corrales and Corrales’ past effort against Karakhanyan
“He’s my favorite guy to train with at Fight Ready. Just the intensity he brings to the room every day. You know, I think he’s confident in my skills as well. So we didn’t really dive into it too much… I’ve always been successful going out and trying to implement my game plan. Instead of trying to necessarily change it based on the opponent. I have a lot of confidence that I’m going to be able to go in there and it gave me kind of the pace or how the fight takes place. I know Henry has that confidence in me.”
“Every fight is different. It’s an ever-changing scenario all the time and you’re never going to have the perfect scenario that you think you can train for.”
The time Bryce Logan broke up a headlock takedown working at a country music bar
“An outlier, you know. The bar I work at is a live music bar but it’s more of a neighborhood setting, you know. For the most part, pretty calm compared to some of the club settings I bartended in when I was in my younger 20’s. I kind of enjoy the relaxed state of things there and so yeah, that was definitely an outlier. But you know, you mix alcohol with anybody and you never know what you’re going to get. So I feel like my night job and fighting, there’s some parallels between the two, for sure.”
Logan vs Karakhanyan
Non-fight related habits and hobbies for Bryce Logan
“Yeah man, Arizona is great for, you know, outside of those two or three months of summertime where it’s blazing hot. The nature out here in Arizona is one of my favorite things. Just to disconnect and get out of the house. Get out of my own head sometimes. In fighting, you tend to spend a lot of time in your own head, you know. Whether it’s sometimes you’re doubting yourself, or doubting your training, or you’re worried about an upcoming matchup.”
“For me that’s always been a free ticket to kind of just let go of everything. Yeah hiking, kayaking, just getting out of the house for me. Arizona has so much to offer in that sense and that was part of the attractiveness to me to moving down here. Five years ago was just that nice climate year-round and the multiple opportunities to get out. Just be outside in nature.”
Preferred music and parting thoughts
Music Bryce Logan trains to
“I’m probably the last guy that’s ever going to grab the aux cord and and try to run the playlist through the gym because I would have people so confused. It would be a country song followed by, followed by some Kodak Black followed by some folk music followed by some more country you know. I’m just all over the board whereas other people kind of have a flow to what they listen to… So I grab a little bit from everybody and put it together which is kind of how I feel like I fight too. I’m gonna grab this combo from this guy and I’m going to grab this grappling technique from this guy. Just mix it all up and see what we come out with.”
Bryce Logan
Parting thoughts for Bryce Logan
“No, I’m just super thankful really like it’s been a 10-year journey to get to this point. Even after winning that LFA title, it almost took a full month for that to settle in like the weight of it. I know it’s not a UFC title or Bellator title but at the end of the day, a world title’s a world title. For a guy like myself who was never even a state champion in high school for wrestling or football or anything to continue believing in myself and continue pushing myself to achieve something like that has been a great feather in my cap.”
“It made me be ready to achieve more and I’m super grateful for the opportunity that Bellator has put in front of me and I’m looking forward to making the absolute most out of it and running with this opportunity so. More than anything, just want to thank the people that stood behind me the last 10 years. Sponsors, family and friends and coaches and teammates and just everybody that helped make this happen. It’s been a blessing to, to know how many people actually have my back.”
