PHOENIX – Heading into his next fight as a big favorite, Jonathan Pearce’s confidence is riding high.
Pearce (11-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) will look to make it three straight when he meets Austin Lingo (9-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 201 on Feb. 19. Now that he’s back down to 145 pounds, the 29-year-old has found his groove.
“I’m feeling like it’s a takeover – 145 pounds is my division,” Pearce recently told MMA Junkie. “You can’t beat a 3-1 odds favorite, so (I’m) just excited to get out there and show everybody what I’ve been doing.”
He takes on “Lights Out” Lingo, who primarily likes to stand and bang while looking for the knockout. But Pearce thinks despite Lingo’s toughness, his grappling game will be too much for him.
“I think the No. 1 thing is his durability – that he’s a durable fighter, and people like Luis (Saldana), they got hurt trying to finish him or they faded in the fight, got tired, and then didn’t have enough gas at the end because they put it all in the first,” Pearce said.
“But I think this guy plays right into my game. I feel with my wrestling and what I did to Omar (Morales) and what I did to Kai Kamaka, it’s kind of like the same thing Khabib (Nurmagomedov) did at his weight class. I know I can get all those guys to the cage at some point in the fight and get that takedown and take the back.”
Having only gone the distance once in 11 professional wins, which came in just his second fight, Pearce hopes he can eventually break through into the rankings if he continues putting people away.
“I want to fight three times this year. If I get lucky, let’s fight four times,” Pearce said. “Let’s try to break (into) the top 15. If they’re not going to give me the top 15, let’s stay undefeated, let’s finish everybody, and let’s show them I’m the dark horse in the division, and I’m really standing up to that name: ‘JSP.’”
Jonathan Pearce: Austin Lingo durable, but ‘this guy plays right into my game’
