A Shamrock FC card will feature just about every potential narrative that there is in the sport of MMA. On any given Shamrock line-up, you’ll see prospects, journeyman veterans and those fighters that have had a taste of the UFC that are looking to climb their back to the sport’s top promotion.
On September 26th, one of the fighters that will fit that latter description will be Bobby Voelker.
After he had a decent amount of success in Strikeforce, Voelker made the transition to the UFC, but he was unable to secure a win in four different fights. Finding himself outside the comfort zone of the UFC has been somewhat deflating for Voelker.
“It’s a little humbling,” Voelker said on The MMA Report Live. “You kinda have to swallow your pride a little bit, and just get back on the boat and get rowing again and get back to where you want to be. That’s kind of where I’m at right now. Shamrock’s been a great organization for me to step into to kinda help me get back to where I want to be.”
The 36 year-old former Strikeforce and UFC combatant will look to extend his winning streak outside of the UFC to three. Recently, Voelker has finished Justin Guthrie and Cedric Marks, and he’s looking to add Mike Estus to that list at Shamrock FC: Clash.
As great as the wins have been for Voelker, he’s still been able to desensitize the sheer positive emotions that come with victories and look back on his previous fights with a critical eye.
“I’m always happy with the win of course,” Voelker said. “But I always go back and look at the wins. I always got to look and see what I did wrong, what I can do better and improve. And that’s really what I try to do every fight. The way I go into a fight is kinda the same all time, but I like to try to change it.”
More than just having success in the cage, he’s been polishing his skill-set in order to continue his success outside the UFC and potentially inside of it.
“[I’ve been] just evolving, getting new skills, trying to one-up my opponent,” Voelker said. “I’ve always got the toughness down, so I never worry about that. It’s just the better movement, the better technique, just the more skill I try to improve on.”
Voelker will look to showcase that improvement against Mike Estus on September 26th. He has a solid grasp on what Estus plans to do, and Voelker expects to ruin those plans.
“From what I’ve seen, he’s a tough guy that likes to throw his hands, likes to throw kicks,” Voelker said. “I know his seven wins have come by submission. Watching the videos I saw, I didn’t see a whole lot of him from his back, but he’s got seven submission wins. He likes to throw big, heavy, wide punches. You get caught by one of those, those could stop anybody, so we’ve been smart about trying to evade those and make him taste what I want to give.”