Looking back on his unanimous decision loss to Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 258 this past February, middleweight Ian Heinisch feels like he’s able to identify the biggest cause for his defeat.
According to Heinisch, his biggest downfall was the fact that he focused too much on what he thought Gastelum was going to do in the fight and not as much on what he himself was going to bring to the match.
“I was training for a certain Kevin Gastelum in my mind,” Heinisch told MMAWeekly.com. “I learned that I need to go back to my roots, what I do when I wrestling, and not being so focused on film.
“It was such a long camp. It was 12 weeks and then it got extended three more weeks. It was so much time focused on a certain style; instead of just focusing on what style am I and dissecting any obstacle in front of me.”
In addition to normal adjustments he would made between fights, Heinisch has begun to focus more on training in Florida rather than his native Colorado.
“Instead of just going out there and being myself and instead of fighting my opponent and myself, just fight my opponent,” said Heinisch. “I’ve just really been on working on growling mentally and rubbing elbows with guys who are champs and people who are Top 10 at Sanford MMA has really helped that process grow.”
On July 24 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Heinisch (14-4) will look to rebound when he faces Nassourdine Imavov (9-3) in a preliminary 185-pound bout at UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw.
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“I’ve only watched the fight (Imavov had) with my teammate, Phil Hawes, who he lost to, and have taken some pointers from Phil, but honestly I’m looking nothing into it,” Heinisch said.
“I just know I need to go in there, step in the cage and take care of business and be the fighter I know I can be: dissect whatever obstacle is in front of me and not focus on what they’re good at. I really haven’t looked too much into it. All I can say is going to go in there and take care of business.”
When it comes to the second half of his 2021, Heinisch has only one goal: to fight as much as possible.
“All’s I know is I want to be active,” said Heinisch. “I want to get back to being the person who takes fights. I want to be busy. I want to be busy and work, and not taking these long layoffs.
“I’ve only had one fight so far this year. I want to get in two more fights, maybe even three. Wherever that takes me, whatever it is, I’m prepared. I want to be an active fighter and get into a winning streak.”
Ian Heinisch ready to take care of business at UFC Vegas 32