Colby Thicknesse knows he can start to get near the bantamweight ranks with a win at UFC Perth.
Thicknesse is set to take on Vince Morales on the prelims of UFC Perth, which should be a fan-friendly fight. Although Thicknesse is coming off his first UFC win, he admits he was disappointed with his performance and is looking to build off of it.
“I’m happy I won. But I wasn’t happy with the performance,” Thicknesse said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “I actually felt like it was the worst performance I’ve had in a fight. I’m pretty good at watching back my fights. But I don’t like watching this one back because I’m not happy with how I performed. It’s not a performance I watch back and say I’m proud of how I fought.”
After the win, Thicknesse was hoping to have a quicker turnaround and wanted to get on UFC 325 with his teammate Alexander Volkanovski. Yet, after that didn’t happen, he figured he was being held for the Perth card.
“I was hoping to get on the February card with Volk, but that didn’t happen, so I then wanted the March card in Seattle,” Thicknesse said. “Once the UFC said they had nothing for me, I assumed they were holding me back for the Perth card. … It’s cool that I’m fighting at home in the UFC. But I’m 26, I’m young, I want to fight and go to other people’s hometowns and fight them there. I want to get booed, I want to spend a week in a foreign country after the fight.”
Colby Thicknesse eyes stoppage win at UFC Perth
The time off, however, was a benefit for Thicknesse as he was able to go to Thailand for several weeks to train and get better.
So, once he got the offer to face Vince Morales at UFC Perth, Colby Thicknesse felt like it was a good matchup for him.
“I was pretty familiar with him,” Thicknesse said. “When I was in Vegas for The Ultimate Fighter with Volk, he was at the PI doing training. I knew about him, and I knew he got cut and had some good wins and came back in. … He is on a three-fight losing skid; however, it is against elite guys, it’s that young up-and-comer vs. the vet.”
With Thicknesse liking the matchup, he believes he’s in a good spot to get his first UFC finish and make a statement against a veteran like Morales.
“I see this fight playing out, without giving too much away, I’m coming out for 15 minutes just to fight,” Thicknesse said. “Whether that’s on the feet, on the ground, in the clinch, we are scrambling. Sometimes I think I overcomplicate it too much, and have all these scenarios in my head. This time around, I have some tactics, but I’m going to go out there and just try to hurt him and get him out of there.”
If Colby Thicknesse gets his hand raised, he believes he can start getting bigger names. And, one name in mind is former UFC champion Cody Garbrandt.
“I think it puts me on a great trajectory. If I go out there and stop him, and make it look good, there’s a real possibility that I can start calling out more veteran guys, like Cody Garbrandt. He just fought someone who’s 1-1 in the UFC; maybe he’s a fight away or next. He’s a massive name, and it catapults me up the rankings,” Thicknesse concluded.
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