The inaugural CES MMA bantamweight champion will be crowned on Friday night in Lincoln, Rhode Island as Andre Soukhamthath faces Kody Nordby in the main event of CES MMA 33.
Both fighters are alums of Woonsocket High School in Woonsocket, Rhode Island and when the fight was announced, both fighters made their opinions known about each other. Soukhamthath stated that he would put Nordby “in his place when the cage door locks” and Norby explained why he has been looking forward to opportunity to face Soukhamthath.
On Tuesday’s edition of “The MMA Report Podcast,” Soukhamthath was a guest on the show to preview his fight against Nordby on Friday night on AXS TV. During his appearance on the podcast, Soukhamthath explained that why this fight may be personal for Nordby, it’s not personal to him.
“For him, it’s a popularity contest and he wants to prove he can beat the coolest kid on the block,” Soukhamthath stated on The MMA Report Podcast. “Who is me of course. He wants to be where I am at. We come from the same town so he wants my people to bow to him. He feels that he has something to prove. The truth is, I never knew who he was. I always knew there was another kid that did MMA, but he was an amateur. I was on my fifth or sixth pro fight. This kid is running his mouth saying he wants to fight me so am I really going to pay attention to that? So that is really how the story goes. So I definitely think it’s personal because he is trying to prove something.”
Check out Soukhamthath’s complete interview from Tuesday’s episode of “The MMA Report Podcast” below and be sure to subscribe to the show on iTunes and Stitcher.