Coming off his first round submission of Alen Amedovski at UFC Fight Night this past May, middleweight Joseph Holmes wasted no time going right back into training.
Not only has he been working closer to home, but Holmes has made travels to one of the sport’s premier trainers as he gets ready to return to the Octagon.
“I spent the two months in Kansas City already training for this fight, training with James Krause, and now I’m back home just preparing for the fight upcoming now,” Holmes told MMAWeekly.com.
As for how he has grown over the past year, Holmes feels like he’s matured as a fighter and is more measured in his approach to fighting than he was before.
“I’m a lot smarter fighter now,” said Holmes. “I’m more experienced. I’m more efficient.
“When I was younger or even a year ago I over-extended more and just did things differently. Now I’m finishing people and am being really efficient with my attacks. I’m getting better at a rapid rate.”
On October 29 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Holmes (8-2) looks to pick up his second straight win when he faces Jun Yong Park (14-5) in a 185-pound preliminary bout at UFC Vegas 63.
“I think he’s a tough guy, really experienced, is going to come forward and make it a real grime-y match, a grapple-y match,” Holmes said of Park. “For me to win I need to move my feet, land my attacks, and work some grappling of my own.
“I think my grappling is really strong. I think to negate him wanting to grapple me and put me on the cage and stuff like that, I should probably do that to him because I believe I do it better.”
Should Holmes come out of his bout versus Park healthy, he’s looking to get back into action before the start of next year and build up some momentum.
“I would definitely love to jump into another fight in December if possible,” said Holmes. “I would really like to end this year showing me what kind of 2023 I’m going to have.
“I’m really going to push hard and fight as often as I can, keep myself healthy and active.”
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Joseph Holmes hopes to show off his rapid improvement at UFC Vegas 63