Former UFC and current World Series of Fighting fighter Dustin Jacoby made his kickboxing debut earlier this year and won the Road to Glory USA Tournament in February.
Jacoby (4-2) entered the light heavyweight tournament at Glory 9 in New York earlier this year and made it to the semifinals before he was eliminated by Danyo Ilunga.
He will return to the Glory ring on Saturday as he meets Makoto Uehara in a feature bout at Glory 13 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.
Prior to leaving the United States for this fight in Japan, Jacoby was working at Factory X in Colorado with head coach Marc Montoya and current UFC fighter Chris Camozzi. During this week’s edition of The MMA Report Live, Jacoby discussed training at Factory X and how he has become a better fighter.
“Just learning something new. Just getting into a new environment, new coach, and picking up on little details that maybe different than I have learned in the past,” Jacoby said. “It’s a great group of guys to train with. A lot of experience in the gym and just a really cool fun team to be around.”
Uehara (15-4) will be stepping into the kickboxing ring for the 20th time in his career and will be making his Glory debut. He is currently on a four fight winning streak and competed in the K-1 World Grand Prix last year. While Jacoby understands that Uehara is a seasoned opponent for him, he looks forward to going toe to toe with him in the ring in Japan.
“Very tough guy and I believe he is currently ranked number fourteen in the world. He has definitely competed at a high level and I look forward to competing against him. I know that he punches wide punches, wide kicks and the he throws hard. The guy has some power and I have to look out for that. I think with the training I have been getting here at Factory X with coach Marc Montoya and guys like Chris helping me out in every aspect of the game. I feel like my stand up is strong and I look forward in going toe to toe with Makota.”
If Jacoby is able to get a victory it will mark his fifth kickboxing win of 2013 and would be his sixth win in kickboxing and MMA in 2013. He understands that he does not have much time to take advantage of the opportunity he has been give, but he plans to make the most out of it and will be prepared.
“I have nine minutes to go out there and take care of business. Nine minutes of my entire day and when you look at it like that, it’s not very much time to do everything that you want to do. I just have to make sure I make the most out of my opportunity and I will be prepared.”