Josh Fremd believes he’ll be in the UFC, but he’s living in the moment ahead of LFA 116
Middleweight Josh Fremd is preparing for his third consecutive LFA main event and he strongly believes his time to sign with the UFC will come. Yet, he isn’t putting any extra pressure on himself heading into LFA 116.
In this conversation with Fremd, he describes the adjustments he’s made in his mindset, his thoughts on the matchup with Renato Valente, what he learned from his last fight, and more.
Fremd has won five of his last six fights, including three straight opening-round finishes for LFA. Another stellar performance in his next outing will definitely catch the attention of the UFC. However, the 27-year-old isn’t thinking ahead. Rather, he’s determined to keep his focus on his upcoming fight.
Josh Fremd Interview
“Yeah, that’s a nice thing to think,” Fremd replied when asked if a win will get him into the UFC. “Honestly I think I let that thought creep into my mind too much before my last fight and I put a lot of pressure on myself. I believe I’m gonna be in the UFC before I call this fighting career done. I believe I’m gonna make it there and have a good career in the UFC, but right now — especially for this fight coming off a loss — I just wanna go out and do what I love to do. I’m just trying to go out and put on a good performance and whatever happens after that happens. I’m not gonna put too much pressure on myself this time.”
In his previous fight, Fremd came up short against Gregory Rodrigues. Yet, like many high-level athletes, he took a few lessons away from the experience that will in turn make him a better fighter.
“There’s a lot of lessons not really fighting related that I had to take from that,” he began, “When it comes down to the fighting skill, I believe that fight went the way it was gonna go. Either I was gonna catch Gregory first or he was gonna catch me, we weren’t making it out of the first round I can guarantee that.”
Advice From Marc Montoya
“But as far as the things I learned, something that Marc has preached to me since I moved here is you can’t be a world champion in the cage if you’re not a world champion outside of the cage,” Fremd said. “There were things leading up to the fight that I could’ve done better to make myself at peace with a possible outcome. I put a lot of pressure on myself like ‘oh if I win this I’ll get this’. So seeing Gregory win and then two days later get signed and then win his UFC debut two weeks later. It was kinda like seeing an ex-girlfriend go out on a yacht with some rich guy. It was tough, but if I was gonna lose to anyone I’d want it to be Gregory because he’s been through the same things I’ve been through.”
LFA 116 Main Event
“Yeah man like you said third straight main event is really cool,” Fremd stated. “It’s always an honor and a privilege to headline an event. The fight itself and the opponent, I think it’s a good matchup and I think it’s gonna be a tough fight. Coming off of a title fight I knew I wasn’t gonna get any cupcake you know. I’m getting a tough guy in Renato and I’m excited to go out there and put a pace on him. I kinda hope it gets out of the first round so I can show some more of my skill set and not just go in there and knock everyone out in under two minutes or get knocked out in under two minutes.”
“I’m definitely always looking for the finish from the beginning to the end,” he proclaimed. “If he can last the first five minutes then I’ll make sure I get him in the next five or the last five. Not everyone has a mean bone in their body, but when I get the chance I wanna be as mean and as ruthless as possible. We both signed up for it, we’re both getting paid, and we both understand what’s at stake. I expect to see the same from my opponents.”
Moving Out To Colorado
After my last fight in Pittsburgh, it was either here or Florida.” Fremd confirmed. “I decided to try Colorado to try something different. Two weeks out here I fell in love with the place. Factory X is exactly what I was looking for honestly. I wanted to go to a place with a lot of structure, a lot of culture. Everyone there is there to get better. It’s our full-time jobs, it’s what we wanna do with our lives, and we hold each other accountable. I absolutely love it.”
Josh Fremd is 27-years-old, but he doesn’t feel as though he’s in his athletic prime just yet. He believes there’s a lot more room to build and grow to become the best version of himself.
“It just feels like everything is going so fast,” he asserted. “It feels like just yesterday I was having my first amateur fight and now I’m here 10 years down the road. But no I feel like there’s still a long way to go. I still have a vision in my mind of what I can get my body to look like, what skills I can still build. I just have to keep grinding, keep pushing, and I feel like I’ll hit my peak around 30 or 32.”
Make sure to watch Jose Fremd take on Renato Valente at LFA 116 on Oct. 22 at the Dobson Arena in Colorado. He’s a middleweight with UFC aspirations and the talent to back it up.
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