Vicente Luque had to take a good look at the way he was handling his fighting career following his most recent bout.
The rising welterweight contender suffered a tough loss to former title challenger Stephen Thompson back in November at UFC 244 in New York. The defeat snapped a six-fight winning streak for Luque (17-7-1 MMA, 10-3 UFC), a run that had him pick up five impressive stoppages and had many in MMA community eying him as the next big thing at 170 pounds.
It was a tough pill to swallow, but Luque handled the loss with grace – not making any excuses and giving full credit to Thompson, saying “Wonderboy” exposed many flaws in his game:
Now gearing up for a return to the Octagon at UFC 249 on May 9, Luque opened up about some of the lessons learned in his most recent defeat.
“I definitely had some good time the rest of November and December, I took some time off to rest my body,” Luque told MMA Junkie. “I had a busy year last year. I had four fights, so I needed a rest.
“Then all of February, January April, March I’ve been working a lot and just improving a lot. I think I’m definitely a different fighter now. Not only the mistakes I made in that fight, but I also saw I had to change.
“I fought four times last year, I watched those four fights, and I don’t look so different from one to the other, so guys can read me. If I’m always doing the same things, I have to add to that. I’m not going to stop doing what I’m good at, but I need to add new things, so that’s what I’ve been working on. I also put on some boxing. Boxing is great, and I’ve been doing a lot of work with a boxing coach and get some hand speed, so that’s good.”
Luque felt his game was becoming predictable due to the lack of evolution from fight to fight. It was an issue he was able to get away with middle-tier competition, but once he got an adversary from the upper echelon like Thompson, it was something he couldn’t get away with without addressing.
“Yeah, definitely (predictable),” Luque said. “Especially at the high level, when you fight someone like Stephen Thompson, he studies fights, and he’s watching every single mistake I make, so he can capitalize on that.
“So at this level, we need to change and evolve very single fight. I felt that maybe that’s something I didn’t do so much last year. I wanted to have a high pace of fights. I wanted to have many fights, but that didn’t give me time to look at myself. I was always looking at my next opponent, at what he’s going to do, how do I fight him, and I forgot a little bit about myself. That’s what I did this time. How can I become a better me? How can I grow and be a better fighter?”
At 28 years of age, Luque is fit and able to compete often. He fought four times in 2019. The Brazilian thinks a busy schedule is not ideal for growth and plans on tuning down the number of fights moving forward, so he was time to evolve and add new tools to his game.
“I think four fights a year is not something realistic from now on,” Luque said. “I definitely want good fights, have some time to work myself, and get ready for that specific fight. But I’m not the kind of guy that can do less than two fights a year.
“I’m pushing for three even with everything that’s going on (with the coronavirus pandemic). It’s hard because I have to balance taking some good time for me to grow after every single fight, but also keep my self active. I’m always way better when I’m active, so I think three fights a year makes sense. I can have three great fights, rest my body up, and not over do it. I think three fights make sense for me.”
The bout at UFC 249 in will be a rematch for Luque, as he defeated Price in 2017. He still thinks he will come out on top, but believes the fight will look different than the first.
UFC 249 is the first event for the company since they were forced to halt operations due to coronavirus bans and restrictions on public gatherings and non-essential business. The pay-per-view card takes place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.
