Josh Kwiatkowski: “Knocking JT (Donaldson) Out” at BFL 76
Josh Kwiatkowski tests skills with JT Donaldson at BFL 76: Canada vs. USA on March 30th and broadcasts on UFC Fight Pass.
Kwiatkowski once again was a guest on Bowks Talking Bouts to discuss winning a title on his 29th birthday last time out, fighting a former AJ McKee opponent here, and a whole lot more. Excerpts from our chat are below.
Josh Kwiatkowski
Winning a Rumble in the Cage belt on his 29th birthday in the prior outing
“Just a huge, huge moment for me. Like snapping that losing streak. Even in that losing streak, I had so many fights that were so close. I’m just happy that now I’ve got my momentum going in the other direction. I’m just going to build off this. Any time you fight someone who has more professional wins than you have professional fights, it’s a huge opportunity. A huge step in the right direction.”
“Like I think Tim (Tamaki) had fifteen or sixteen wins (nineteen). This next fight I have is going to be my thirteenth fight. So for me, it was a huge huge moment and it just shows people that I’m a lot better than my record shows.”
BFL 76
JT Donaldson’s Bellator past and being a previous opponent of AJ McKee in the context of Kwiatkowski’s tape study
“I feel like any time, as I fight people that have more and more footage. This guy does have quite a bit of footage, just like I have quite a bit of footage now too. So, it goes both ways. But I’ve found that because the fight camp is so long that I say like three or four weeks ago when I first really, really dived into fight camp, I watched a bunch of footage on him. Broke it down with my coaches. I studied him, I watched like everything I could, tried to make my reads, and then I just started training really, really hard.”
“Then I noticed about a week ago, me and my striking coach sat down and watched some of his fights. Then me and my jiu-jitsu coach Shawn (Albrecht), we sat down and watched a few of his fights. Again, made a bunch of reads and came up with our game plan in which we’re going to implement in the fight. Obviously, we also have our plan B and C right? But from what I see and what I’ve taken from his fights, I’m very, very confident in being able to show people the best me on the 30th and to finish him.”
Josh Kwiatkowski vs JT Donaldson
“Because at the end of the day, the UFC and these major organizations only care about finishes. To finish someone like JT puts me in the same caliber as other people that finished him. Again, I’m no AJ McKee yet. But at the same time, if I go in there and I starch JT right in the first well it shows people that I’m going in the right direction.”
Kwiatkowski continued, “When you see people that have beat JT like that Laird Anderson in Bellator who’s a stud and AJ McKee, I don’t really take too much against that. Because those are such high-level, good fighters. But at the same time, no one’s on a pedestal. I have to go in there and I have to join their company and I just got to finish JT. Going out there and getting a decision is not going to be good enough for me.”
