LAS VEGAS – Drakkar Klose is looking to hand Jeremy Stephens his walking papers at UFC on ESPN 22.
Klose (11-2-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) faces Stephens (28-18 MMA, 15-17 UFC) in Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex, which airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
Stephens has fought a who’s who list if opponents throughout his UFC tenure but finds himself enduring the roughest patch of his career, having lost his past four in a row. Though Stephens holds notable wins over some high-level competition, Klose didn’t mince his words when talking about their matchup.
He thinks Stephens is past his prime and hasn’t evolved in years.
“To be honest, I think he’s past his – the door is closing on him,” Klose told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at Wednesday’s media session at the UFC Apex. “You know that meme with Scott Coker waiting? They’re waiting on Jeremy right now.”
Klose paid a heavy price in his past outing against Beneil Dariush, where he cracked him clean but got too overzealous when hunting for the finish. Klose ended up getting stopped by Dariush but vows to fight the dangerous Stephens with a much more composed approach.
“I know I’m going to hit Jeremy,” Klose said. “Just be patient, pick him apart. I’m going to go out there and jab him up, get him emotional, he’s going to go crazy, and then we’re going to wake him up.”
He continued, “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks. He’s going to go in there and throw haymakers. I think I’m faster than him. I’m definitely better looking than him. I’m just going t go in there and get the job done. … You see he loses, he doesn’t go back to his camp and work on anything. He’s the same fighter he was when he probably first started fighting. You have the evolve in this game. If you don’t evolve, you get left behind.”
To see the full interview with Klose, check out the video above.
Drakkar Klose thinks Jeremy Stephens is past his prime: ‘The door is closing on him’
