Ethan Goss: “Either he’s going to whoop my a**, or I’m going to whoop his”
When Ethan Goss (3-4) steps into the cage at PA Cage Fight 34 on December 1 it will have been little more than a year since he last competed at Bellator 186. A knee injury kept the 26-year old fighter out of the cage for most of 2018, but now he is healed and ready to go war. We spoke with Goss about his upcoming featherweight bout with fellow Bellator veteran Brandon Seyler Jr (8-7-1).
MyMMANews – Last time we spoke, you are expressing your frustrations with judging in MMA following a split decision loss at Bellator 186. It has not been more than a year since you last fought? What has been the reason for the layoff?
Ethan Goss – “The whole year we have been looking, trying to get on cards. There was some stuff that popped up and some stuff that fell through, fights that almost got signed and what not. Finally I did get signed and I was signed to fight in Pittsburgh back in June. I ended up getting injured three weeks before the fight. I sat on the shelf for six or seven weeks this year due to the injury. We kept pushing and training. I trained all year. I finally found a fight here for the end of the year.
Is ring rust or cage rust a real thing? Do you think the time off will impact your comeback?
Goss – “No, I don’t feel any different. I’m in the gym every day of the week to begin with. It’s not like I took time away from the sport, walked out of the gym and didn’t come back the whole year. Right after the Bellator I was back in the gym training. I feel like I am going to be better this time around than I was the last time.”
Of your four losses, three are by decision, two of those being split. Is there anything you have learned about yourself as a fighter from those fights that you can implement into this fight and or future contests?
Goss – “Yeah, that’s one of the things we have been working on. The biggest thing that guys try to do to me, and you see this in the Jordan Morales fight, and you also see it in the Andrew Salas fight, is guys don’t want to stand with me. They end up pushing me to the fence to take me down. The majority of the time they have a tough time taking me down or they can’t take me down. What they end up doing is holding me on the fence. My problem was I got too comfortable there at times, with my back against the fence. It looks like I am losing. That cost me two fights, the fight with Morales and the fight with Salas. I do enough work to make it interesting. I do enough to make it a close fight to where the judges don’t know who wins and they just go with one or the other. That’s something that is changing this time around. Something we have been working on.”
This is your first time fighting for PA Cage Fight. Any expectations?
Goss – “No. It is always different. See how they do things. It is kind of exciting to see that unfold. Paul Matreselva (promoter) has been great with me. He has been real nice and easy going. He works with me, I’m working with him. I have no complaints, no problems. Really I am just looking forward to the fight. We will see how they do things. I’m sure I’ll like it and I’m sure I’ll want to come back. I’m sure Paul will want me to come back. I try to make myself as easy as possible for the promoter to work with. His job sucks to begin with so I might as well make it easy for him.”
What do you know about your opponent? He has more than double the pro experience than you? Does that matter?
Goss – “No. That doesn’t mean anything. I’ve been doing this my whole career man. I’ve been fighting guys with double my fights all along. Even as an amateur I would have four fights and the guy I was fighting would have 15. When I fought Dustin Kempf in Ohio, he had double the amount of fights as me. That means nothing to me. Brandon is a tough guy. I know that. I know he’s a game fighter, he’s been in CES MMA, he’s been in Bellator MMA. He’s no easy fight. Never have I taken an easy fight either. We’re pros now. There are no easy fights in pros. Brandon is pretty well-rounded. He is a decent strike. If I had to say where I think he is best at I would say his grappling, his jiu jitsu. He’s more of a jitz guy. I feel comfortable in all of these area. I feel fine going to ground with him. I feel fine standing with him. I’m confident in the fight. I like the matchup and I’m excited to see what happens.”
What are your plans for 2019 and your MMA career? Is there a goal in mind?
Goss – “Keep it going. Just want to keep it going. We’ll see what comes up. I’d love to get back to Bellator. I’d love to get another shot with them. The biggest thing for me is I’ve been in this sport for a while, I think seven years now. How about we start fighting for prizes man? Stop fighting for chump change. Before it wasn’t about money for me. And it’s still not. I’ve put my body through it. I’m getting older. Why not get paid for it? Take these bigger fights that are being offered.
How do you see this fight going down on December 1?
Goss – “Well either he is going to whoop my ass, or I’m going to whoop his. That’s really the only thing I can tell you. It’s a fight. We’re going to go out there and kick each other’s asses. I don’t know what’s going to happen and he don’t either. I might knock him out in the first round. He might knock me out. I don’t know. One thing I will guarantee is, I am bringing the fight. It’s going to be exciting. There’s going to be people screaming, and I plan on putting on a show.”
Lastly, any coaches, teammates, sponsors, anyone you want to thank?
Goss – “Yeah definitely. I want to thank everyone at Gorilla House Gym. Ray Ross, Darren Cassidy, Cody Karlheim. These guys stepped up and really, really helped me with my training. We changed some things up this camp. I couldn’t be doing this without them. All my teammates, Syd Ross, Cam, Tyler Updike, all these guys that come into the gym and have been working with me this camp. Brad Mountain, Zak Rice, these guys have all been helping me. I just want to say ‘thank you’ to them and I appreciate them. Let’s go do this thing.”
Purchase tickets to PA Cage Fight 34 here
