John Castaneda talks UFC 295 win, hiring a boxing coach and plans for 2024
John Castaneda went into 2023 with a change in his life and that change ended up paying off as Castaneda just ended the year with another victory at UFC 295.
Prior to 2023, Castaneda was living the life of an up and coming fighter as he was still in his first UFC contract. Like many fighters in this position, Castaneda was working a job while also pursing his fighting career.
After fighting out his first four-fight UFC contract, Castaneda was 2-2 in the UFC and he did not know what the future had in store.
Luckily, the future was another UFC contract and that’s where things changed.
Now with a little more money and job security, Castaneda decided it was time to go full time with the fight game and give up his other job.
Castaneda used the extra time wisely as he went to Thailand to train with the Hickman brothers at Bangtao Muay Thai and MMA.
That trip was refreshing and Castaneda came back to his home state of Minnesota looking too build on his great trip so he went out and hired a boxing coach.
Castaneda says that was one of his best decisions in his fighting career as he’s stand up is now better than ever and his fight game is becoming complete as he comes from a wrestling background.
Finally, after a great few months of training, it was time to fight.
Back in June, Castaneda fought Muin Gafurov and looked great has he blended his striking with three takedowns and won a unanimous decision on the judges scorecards.
Then last weekend at UFC 295, Castaneda took on Kang Kyung Ho and once again he secured three takedowns and also was every active with leg and body kicks on way to winning all three rounds on the judges scorecards for a unanimous decision win.
So far, the move to being a full time fighter has been great has Castaneda went 2-0 in 2023 and now he’s planning on racking up some more wins in 2024 and cracking the top 15 in the official UFC bantamweight rankings.
Following his win at UFC 295, Castaneda spoke with MyMMANews about his win, he year as a whole, his plans for 2024 and getting to finally meet Joe Rogan.
You can watch his full interview in the video above.
