After a successful amateur run, Trevor Ward made his pro MMA debut in 2013 and scored four straight stoppage victories on the regional scene in the midwest.
After a win in April of last year against Sean Henry Barnett at Capital City Cage Wars, he took his first fight outside of the United States and faced Shintaro Ishiwatari at Pancrase 262 in Japan.
Ward (4-1) would suffer his first career defeat when the fight was stopped at the end of the opening round due to Ward breaking his hand in the fight. While it’s officially a lost on the record of Ward, he does not view it that way.
“If you asked me, I really did not lose. I thought I beat him in the first round,” Ward told The MMA Report. “I really think I was winning the fight and I would have won. He was not going to finish me. There was no way he was going to finish me. He might have won a decision if he kept taking me down like he was. I do not feel like I lost, I just got defeated. Saturday is a totally different ball game right now. That lost was really not a lost. He was supposed to beat me anyways and if you look at the videos, I beat him. Saturday is just a little revenge. I got a lot to prove and a lot to show.”
On Saturday, he will meet Bill Friday in a flyweight bout at Capital City Cage Wars at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, Illinois. Friday (5-1) is currently on a four fight winning streak and his most recent win came in February of last year when he defeated Ken Porter by technical submission at Titan FC 27. When it comes to the fight, Ward admitted that he has not watched any tape on his opponent and he leaves that up to his coaches.
“I have no idea I have not literally watched one video on him. I really do not care what he is going to bring. I am an all around fighter. I am going to beat him in every position. Every standup, ground, clinch, wrestling, judo. You name it. I will beat him.”
Based on his previous fights, Ward is pretty sure of one thing. He completely expects his opponent to look to take the fight to the ground once he feels the power in his hands.
“I am pretty sure that there is a 100 percent chance that he is going to shoot in on me because he not going to want to stand with me,” he said. “On the ground, I do not think there is anybody in the world that is as good as me at 125. I am too long, lengthy, and strong for my size. I think I have twelve first round finishes on the ground. They are all quick. They all think they can stand with me and they get hit a couple of times. They go straight to the ground and it’s the same thing all over again. I have fought way bigger guys than him. Fought guys way stronger than him. I do not see this being any problem because I really trained hard for this fight. I do not care what he brings because I am going to bring something more.”
If Ward continues to score stoppage victories, he is a fighter that could be on the fast track to potentially joining the UFC flyweight division.