While 2020 was difficult for many people, both inside and outside of MMA, for a few people the year turned out to be one that ultimately benefitted them, including UFC welterweight Christian Aguilera.
In addition to making the step up to the UFC in 2020, Aguilera had a lot of monumental things happen in his personal life, making for 2020 to be one of the best for him yet.
“2020 went fantastic,” Aguilera told MMAWeekly.com. “I signed to the UFC, I had two fights, I’m opening up a restaurant, started construction, and I had a kid last year too, so a lot of big things happened for me in 2020.
“Really it was a great year for me. Nothing really slowed down. A lot of things got set up. I accomplished a lot of things last year and set myself up for this year.”
Aguilera points out that his personal philosophy of constant readiness for anything that happens helped make all the events of 2020 easier to handle and not overwhelm him.
“I have a really strong belief in always be ready for you,” said Aguilera. “Always be ready for any moment, so whatever happens, roll with the punches, and do the best you can with what you’ve got.
“There was a lot of opportunity within the chaos of the pandemic, and we were ready. We were ready to take advantage of a short notice fight. We were ready to take advantage of every other opportunity that got thrown our way.”
This Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada, Aguilera (14-7) will look to pick up his second promotional victory when he takes on Carlston Harris (15-4) in a 170-pound preliminary bout at UFC Fight Night: Rodriguez vs. Waterson.
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“He’s a tough guy,” Aguilera said of Harris. “He’s a Brave champion; he’s fought a lot of five round fights. He’s submitted some high level guys, proven he can take out a lot of high level guys, so it should be a great match-up.
“I think speed is going to play a big role in this. I think my ability to stop his takedowns and my ability to counter-wrestle will play a big role in this. Ideally we finish him and have a good showing.”
With everything Aguilera has going on in his life outside the octagon, when it comes to his fight career he’s going to take things step by step and make his second year in the UFC is better than his first.
“We’ve definitely been focusing on this fight, getting the victory, and then after that we still have a lot of year left, so we’ll play that as it comes,” said Aguilera.
“For now we’re working on this guy. That’s the only thing on my mind is winning this fight, coming out on top, and whatever happens after that we’ll roll with that.”
Christian Aguilera expects to have a good showing at UFC Vegas 26
