There are moments in a fighters career that they will never forget and one of those moments for welterweight Zak Bucia came in July at Titan FC 34.
On that night in Kansas City, Bucia (14-6) scored his fourth career victory by knockout as he defeated Jose Landi-Pele at the 47-second mark of the second round and he calls it the number one highlight of his career at this point.
“It’s probably going to be number one in the all-time highlights. Everything has been coming together for me recently,” Bucia told The MMA Report. “To get to fight a legend in Pele and to perform so well, it’s obviously like one of if not the best things that has happened so far. I am really excited to see what comes of that and where I can take it from here.”
Why are things coming together for Bucia at this point in his career? He explained that it’s a couple of things, including how he is finding himself as a striker.
“I have a lot going for me now that I am back here in my hometown and I have a good set of people around me,” he explained. “I just recently in my past last couple of fights, I started to really find myself as a striker. I was always ok as a striker, but it didn’t come together the way I knew I could if I really just went for it. I do not know what happen. I just decided to go out there and have fun with it. Loosen up a little bit and everything started coming out way sharper.”
On Saturday night in Washington, Bucia will look for his fourth win in a row when he faces Rasul Shovhalov at Titan FC 35. Shovhalov is making his Titan FC debut and is coming off a lost to Ultimate Fighter 22 participant Artem Lobov. While Bucia sees a well-rounded opponent, he does not see anything scary about him.
“He is well-rounded and he has a little bit of everything. That is what I really see and I do not see anything particular scary about him. I know that I have to watch out for foot locks,” Bucia said about his opponent. “Russians tend to like to go for foot locks. I have seen him go for them a few times and land them a few times. I have to be careful with that. But other than that, he just seems like someone across the board that somebody that has a little bit of everything but nothing that is really scary to me.”
For the majority of fighters, they only think about the task at hand. While that is true for Bucia, he did admit that he has thought about the possibility of being on a fast track to a UFC offer since he is fighting on Fight Pass.
“I have the upmost confidence in my abilities to do well after that as well. Every fight is important, especially being on Fight Pass,” he said. “Part of me feels like this guy is maybe as scary as Pele was. I need to treat every fight that way because that is always a possibility. You could always get that call and I want to make a really good impression every time I am out there. Put on a show and make a statement. Each time I can take a step closer to stepping into the octagon and the UFC.”
Titan FC 35 will take place from the Clark County Fairgrounds Event Center in Ridgefield, Washington on Saturday and the event will begin at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on UFC Fight Pass.