Fight Island feels like home to UFC 257 flyweight Amir Albazi
Interview with Amir Albazi above
UFC flyweight Amir “The Prince” Albazi is ready to make his return to the Octagon on Jan. 23. Albazi burst onto the UFC scene this past summer in the UFC’s first trip to Fight Island. His first-round submission win over Malcolm Gordon turnd heads. He immediately became a man to reckon with in the 135-pound division, although he will be competing at flyweight going forward. After two canceled bouts this past fall, Albazi is headed back to Fight Island to continue his run on one of the biggest cards of the year.
“It was a hard couple of camps already with canceled fights,” Albazi explained. “With my opponent not making it last time, so I feel good for this one. I feel more than ready. There’s been a bit of drama forward and back. Especially with the last one with me flying all the way over to Las Vegas but my opponent couldn’t get a Visa to get in the country so the fight ended up not happening. To be honest I have trained every day. For me it’s not so much being in camp or off camp, I’m always in training, I’m always preparing it was just a bit more time to get prepared for this fight.”
Fight Island was the home of his first win in the UFC and since the UFC is headed back there again for another stay, the opportunity to get back there was perfect for Albazi.
“So now I actually prefer Fight Island over Vegas,” Albazi explained. “I feel like it more home for me. My last fights have all been in the Middle East and My family is from Iraq and fighting in the Middle East I just feel like home basically.”
Albazi has had to get creative with his training and recovery while in lockdown. An extended training camp and limited access to things while many parts of the world remain in quarantine was just business as usual for Albazi and his team.
“I just have to do things in a different way, but my training camp hasn’t really changed. I have been using red light therapy and I’m experimenting with all these new opportunities that come to me. A lot of people get nice watches, nice cars, and other stuff when they win but I put all my winnings into recovery stuff and ways to recover faster so I can train more.”
Albazi could find himself rising up the flyweight division with a win on Jan. 23. Following the win it doesn’t matter to him who is next, he just knows he can handle whoever the UFC puts in front of him on his way to the top and the UFC flyweight championship. Check out Albazi as he will be taking on Zhalgas Zhumagulov on the preliminary portion of the UFC 257 PPV event live on ESPN+ on Jan. 23.
