Ultimate Fighter 14 Alum John “Prince” Albert is currently on a three fight losing streak and the UFC is giving him another shot in the octagon as he will take on Yaotzin Meza at UFC on FOX 8.
Typically after a UFC fighter is defeated in three straight fights, they get released from the organization but that did not happen with Albert.
Following his first round submission lost to Scott Jorgensen at UFC on FOX 5 last December, UFC match maker Sean Shelby came up to Albert and said they would give him another fight if he wanted that.
“Sean Shelby the match maker must really like me or something,” Albert told TheMMAReport.com. “They put me up against these tough guys because they know I come to fight and that I can bring it. He came back and he simply said he was going to give me the option. You can either stay in the UFC or you can go out and fight in local shows and come right back.”
“He told me that he feels I am a huge talent and I just have these mental blips in the middle of the fight and he says if its the mental game, I need to get a couple of wins before I come back. I was like nope, I’m staying in the UFC and I am ready to go.”
This will be his second straight fight in the UFC to take place in his home state as UFC on FOX 5 took place at KeyArena in Seattle, which is also host UFC on FOX 8 on July 27th. He did not feel any pressure in fighting in front of his hometown fans as he was more excited.
“I was more excited than anything because no really gets that opportunity to fight in their home state. It was only the second time they [UFC] had been to Washington. It was kind of a dream to be able to fight in the biggest stages in fighting in my home town and I was more excited than anything else.”
At UFC on FOX 8, he will face Yaotzin Meza who is a training partner of UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson and lost his only fight in the UFC to Chad Mendes at UFC on FX 6 late last year.
He has started getting ready for this fight but admitted that he doesn’t like to scout his opponents much because every fighter improves from fight to fight.
“I will do a little big of scouting and I don’t like to scout to much. I just feel I like to be the best overall mixed martial artist I can be so that I’m ready for any position. In the Scott [Jorgensen] fight, we say a correlation of him banging it out with people and that is what we figured that he was going to bang it out with me and that is where I was going to win the fight.”
“Obviously, he did not want to stand with me at all and he shot right in. It took me a little bit back but my ground game was good enough and I was prepared for it. There is not to much I look into it because I feel like if you are not advancing or progressing in this sport, you are not going to go anywhere. I don’t think anyone is as good as there last fight, I think they are better.”
Albert does realize that he will need to get a win on July 27th or he will likely be released by the UFC.