The upcoming Pinnacle FC 10 fight card on May 9th in Pennsylvania will be headlined by a title fight as Mark Cherico defends the featherweight title against Darby Halferty.
Cherico (7-1) will be entering this fight following a submission defeat in November against Brian Kelleher in a catchweight bout of 138 pounds and he admitted to The MMA Report that he made a mistake that cost him the fight.
“I made a little bit of a stupid f—ing error and I was a little wide in my stance,” Cherico said. “I was off balance and he came forward and he knocked me over. I took a desperation shot out of reaction and he got the guillotine. If anything, it’s taught me that anything can and will happen in a MMA fight. On any given night, anybody can beat you.”
Following that defeat, Cherico was planning to take a boxing bout. However, injuries caused that bout to be canceled and now he will return to the MMA cage in under one month at Pinnacle FC 10. Has he closed the door on taking a boxing bout at this time? That door is not completely closed, but he is concentrating on MMA at this time.
“Right now, I want to get this fight in with Pinnacle and hopefully get another one pretty quick. Make that run in the UFC. I am not getting any younger as I am going to be 29 in the middle of May so I would like to get to the UFC before I am 30. That was always the goal and my timeline to be there before I am 30. I do not really want to take a boxing match at this point now. I was doing it earlier this year because there was no MMA cards coming up locally. I was looking to stay active and there are so many cards coming up this summer, I will probably just focus on MMA. I feel like two or three wins is going to put me in contention for a call up to the UFC.”
On May 9th, he will be facing an undefeated fighter that is coming off a TKO last June against Brandon Wheeler at Gladiators of the Cage. While Cherico is open to talking about his long term goal of being in the UFC, his short term goal is to make a statement against Halferty.
“You want to have long term goal but obviously, you have to have short term goals. The short term goal is to destroy Darby Halferty May 9th. From there, we will look at whatever is next. I do not have a crystal ball and I can not see into the future. All I know is my short term goal now is to smash Darby Halferty and wherever the chips may fall, we will go from there.”