Tyson Nam says UFC on ESPN 10 is ‘do to die’ for him
During the early days of the lockdown imposed due to the novel coronavirus, flyweight Tyson Nam was understandably frustrated. His livelihood was put on hold and he was unable to compete, but after several weeks things began to look up.
With the UFC to begin holding events again in May, Nam felt energized and let it be known that he would be able to fight wherever, whenever, the UFC wanted him to, and he got the call to do so.
“I told my manager that fights were going to start up sooner than later and there were going to be a lot of guys who didn’t want to take fights, but I would be ready at the drop of a dime and sign me up as soon as fights started rolling out again,” Nam told MMAWeekly.com.
“I’m definitely excited for (my upcoming fight). Coming off two straight losses in my first two fights for the UFC, they called me back for another fight; I thought I was going to get my pink slip. They want to see me at least one more time, so I’m definitely overjoyed.”
While Nam has another opportunity to fight in the UFC, he definitely knows his back is to the wall and he has to pick up a win should he want to continue to stay with the promotion.
“Two straight losses, yeah, I need a win,” said Nam. “This is definitely a do or die for me coming off of two straight losses. I need to make an impression. I need to make it a win – I need to make it a highlight win more so on top of that fact.”
On Saturday in Las Vegas, Nam (18-11-1) will look to rebound versus late replacement Zarrukh Adashev (3-1) in a bantamweight preliminary bout at UFC Fight Night: Eye vs. Calvillo. Nam had originally been slated to face Ryan Benoit (10-6), who withdrew for unknown reasons.
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Nam was planning “fireworks” against Benoit, and with his back against the wall, he’ll surely look to put on an exciting fight to hold his place on the roster.
For Nam, the events of this year have him feeling long-term planning may have to wait, so for now his focus is on his match with Adashev and not much beyond that.
“Right now, I’m living one day at a time,” said Nam. “I have a fight on June 13 and I’m not looking past that. Things happen and change, especially when the clock struck 2020, all sorts of things started happening in the world. I’m living one day at a time and right now my time is on June 13.”
