Gregor Gillespie is going to take things down a notch.
The New York native will resort back to his original ways after suffering his first professional loss to Kevin Lee back in November at UFC 244. Defeat wasn’t the only new experience for Gillespie (13-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) in his developing MMA career, as he also engaged in the trash talk and callout culture of the sport during the buildup.
Gillespie, who had generally kept a good distance from talking trash, was far more vocal ahead of the Lee fight, and even prior to that had also made the first callout of his career.
The NCAA Division I All-American made clear the extra talk didn’t have anything to do with his performance or the outcome of his fight against Lee, saying “The Motown Phenom” simply landed the “perfect kick.”
But despite not taking a toll, Gillespie wants to go back to his old ways and let his performance do the talking.
“Yeah, I’m going to stay away from that,” Gillespie told MMA Junkie. “I’m not going to say that was at all part of the reason why I lost. I’m not this dummy that thinks because I wore a different pair of socks that’s why I lost. I’m not superstitious as far as that, but I like to keep it the same, and I got a little, I mean, it wasn’t an overwhelming amount of getting caught up in the sh*t talk after, but the thing is that at that point, I wasn’t getting any offers, wasn’t getting any fights. Several people had turned down fights when I was asking them.
“The UFC has done an amazing job with matching me up with good guys, but I think I got to a point where I needed to create a little bit of a stir because a lot of people were looking at that like, ‘Gillespie isn’t fighting because he’s scared. Gillespie isn’t fighting because he doesn’t want to fight.’ A lot of people were sending me a lot of nasty sh*t on Instagram like, ‘Maybe if you fought more than once a year you’d be in the top 10, blah blah blah.’ So I put those out more like, ‘Hey, look, I’m trying guys. I’m just not getting the fights I’m asking for.’
“And that’s nothing on the UFC, the UFC has been f*cking amazing with me. Anybody that complains about the UFC, they’re having a completely different experience than I am because the UFC has been phenomenal to me in getting me matched up. We were just having a tough time getting guys in the top 10 that wanted to fight – also a lot of guys were booked or injured or coming off loses or recent fights. So I felt like I had to put something out there to let people know that I was trying to fight, so I’m probably going to stay away from that like I have in the past.
“I think I got a little bit caught up doing too many interviews and talking about what was going to happen. Then I got into that little thing in the weigh-in of who’s going to look away from who, who’s going to turn first, and I’m done doing that sh*t. I’m going to go back and do exactly what I was doing before: Head down, not do the whole get-crazy-during-the-staredown thing, no interviews that are going to – if you start talking about my opponent or what’s going to happen next, I’m done with the interview. I’m going to go back to exactly what I was doing before.”
There are many reasons why Gillespie will look to dial down on the talking aspect of MMA. For starters, he admits he’s not quite Conor McGregor, and believes he frankly doesn’t need to be loud to achieve his ultimate goal.
“I’m not a sh*t talker, and I’ve never been a sh*t talker,” Gillespie explained. “It actually makes me genuinely uncomfortable. You can tell when I did that Anthony Pettis callout I was visually uncomfortable, and it wasn’t organic. It looked scripted, and it’s because it was scripted. I mean, even Chael Sonnen ripped me apart for that and rightfully so. It was just a horrible acting job on my end, and it’s because that’s exactly what it was. It was an uncomfortable situation of acting, and I didn’t do it well. I wasn’t comfortable, it wasn’t organic, so I don’t like doing that.
“I know it’s part of the sport, and I’m not hating on anyone that’s is good at it. I mean, Conor McGregor has literally mad hundreds of millions of dollars out of it, you know, paired with the fact that he can also fight pretty damn good. So you know, like I’m not good at it, and I understand it.
“I can generate enough of an interest with my fighting and my personal life. I put a lot of it on Instagram, and there are a lot of fishing fans out there and a lot of country boys like me, so I appeal to a different audience – maybe not the guys who love watching that WWE style sh*t. That’s not me. I definitely have my own things. I’ve picked up a lot of followers over the past year, so I think I have a different fan base, and maybe I’m bringing in a different fan base to the sport of MMA. I’ve had people say, ‘I haven’t watched fighting until I saw you, I’m a fisherman, and I just saw your fishing videos.’
“I’m all about promoting the sport, a certain fight, but not going to do it by corny one-liners about your mom.”
Gregor Gillespie was flattened by a Kevin Lee head kick at UFC 244. (Sarah Stier, USA TODAY Sports)
Big part of the reason there’s been a rise in trash talk is because it may result in desired matchmaking and increased fan interest. It can be a beneficial tool to many fighters. Gillespie believes there’s a way around getting ahead through promotion, and that’s just simply what he does best – winning.
“My game plan has always been if you win the fights, you’re going to get bigger fights,” Gillespie said. “So I’ll string together a few more good ones, and I’ll be right where I want to be. Look at George St-Pierre. He didn’t even say a f*cking word, nd he’s one of the most popular fighters in history.
“I also want to be, and as corny as this sounds, but man, I guess this is where the wresting comes in: We were always taught to be good role models and be examples for the kids who are going to watch you compete. So I hope they see this guy that cleaned up his life, he’s a former drug user and alcoholic, cleaned his life up, gets back on track, gets into a sport, makes it into the UFC, gets in the top 10, and maybe gets a title shot one day and wins the belt. I want to be a good role model.
“There’s also a life after fighting, too. I might have to apply for a job after I’m done fighting, and let’s say six years from now I’m trying to be a teacher, and they’re going to look back at my Instagram, and he was telling someone to suck his d*ck, and all the sudden you’re getting, ‘Oh, we can’t hire this guy. There’s a video of him on his own page telling someone to suck his d*ck.’ You can’t do that. So where do you draw the line? I’m trying to look forward. You can’t fight forever. At some point you might have to put in a job application with a company that may not like what you’re saying.
“So I don’t know. I’m all about promoting a fight and gaining, retaining as much interest in me, my fight, and the promotion as much as I possibly can. But at what expense?”
When it comes to trash talk and callouts, Gregor Gillespie is 'done doing that sh*t'
