An impressive undefeated start to Raphael Butler’s career in his first eight fights led to a letdown two fight stretch in which he failed to get his hand raised.
Following a draw to Nick Rossborough and a loss to Javy Ayala, Butler rebounded with a first round submission of Josh Diekmann, and he returns to action on August 28th to earned his second consecutive victory when he takes on Lorenzo Hood at Bellator 141.
While Butler kicked off his career as a heavy-hitting prospect, against Hood, he’ll play the role of the veteran opponent, and the role – which comes with less pressure – is one that he’s happy to fill.
“I actually like when the attention is not on me because I can just focus on what I need to do,” Butler said to The MMA Report. “If I could, I would keep it this way. I would keep it so that everybody else is talking about my opponent and not me. That makes my job easier and less stressful. I don’t have to prove anything. The only thing I have to do is go out there and fight.”
And when looks back at the part of his career that’s represented the downswing in his trajectory, Butler recognizes how detrimental that type of pressure has been to his success.
“I put too much pressure on myself,” Butler said. “I still had that boxing mentality where I had to keep that undefeated record and make sure that I did everything I could to [keep] the undefeated record, but I’m starting to learn now that MMA is a different game. The fans like a fighter, and if you go out there and fight, win or lose, the fans are going to get behind you.”
Prior to starting his intensive fight camp for Hood, Butler spent time outside of Alliance MMA and at Glendale Fighting Club. At Glendale, Butler took note of how incredible the work ethic some of the fighters at the gym is, especially the work ethic of one of UFC’s champions.
“Seeing the drive of Ronda [made an impression on me],” Butler said. “The first day that I saw her at the gym, she came off two weeks from being bedridden sick, and she came in and worked her butt off for two hours. It was amazing to watch her do it, and I’m taking that into myself. Regardless of how I feel or what else is going on in my life, when I’m in the gym I need to put out 100 percent with no reason behind it to get in there and do it.”
Focusing back onto his fight with Lorenzo Hood, Butler does recognize the resemblance between Hood and that earlier version of himself, and he’s looking to teach Hood the same lessons that he once learned.
“From what I understand, [Hood] is like my earlier fighters where he didn’t get a chance to show his other skills, so I can’t really say that he doesn’t have the skills. I’ll just say that as far as where I stand from, he hasn’t been able to show them, and my job is to make sure that still hasn’t shown them in our fight.”