0

Ep. #87 – Alejandro Flores

Alejandro Flores is a mixed martial artist who most recently competed on Dana White’s Contender Series. He has amassed a 17-3 record competing primarily for Combate Americas and Combate Extremo in which he held the Featherweight title.

Transcript

Alejandro FloresOkay, all right so uh. How are you doing how’s your day been uh? It’S good! I just start training. Today, no yesterday was my first day training after my fight, because my legs and just i just rest like three four days and i really want to to go back to the gym train again and how uh? How do you feel after the fight i mean? Obviously it didn’t go, go your way. Was there a part of you that was like man? I want to just go back into the gym right away, or did you part of you feel like you know what i’ll take some time and just kind of, let my mind recover? Oh, what was the decision like? Why did you jump back to training so quickly, because this is my life, so i live for? I live for this. I i live for for training. I need to train every day after my fight. I was like a little angry with me. I don’t know why, because i make um every step every every day for six months i make the things really really good, so i trained like very hard my wrestling, my striking my diet, was very good. I just cut four pounds the last day, so i feel really good in the first round. I don’t feel tired. I started making the the things good in the second round, but uh that things happen. You know it’s just uh. Sometimes this is the sport. It is what it is you know, so i can. I can so i work for this. This is my only way to make money you know, so i can go back home and still crying about my laws. You know so the thing here is okay, so i lose okay. I need to fight again. I go back training just rest, two three days to recover my my legs, because always when i fight my legs finish like so bad, you know, because i kick a lot and that’s it just recover a little bit and go back to the gym, still training and Grinding and that’s it i live for this, you know i want to talk a little bit about what got you into the sport, because when i think mexico, i think lucha libre or i think boxing with canelo alvarez, how did you end up in mixed martial arts? So i i started training taekwondo when i was younger like seven eight years and at the same time i try. I play american football, so the competition is in. My life is in my life. Every days when i was younger, then then i still playing american football. Then, at like 17 years old, i started training kickboxing around my my my house, a little school like there and i just start training kickboxing and i like it all my life. I say to my like. Let me practice boxing because i i like boxing, i like the contact sport, you know no football, no baseball everything about contact, they don’t they don’t like uh boxing and but i just find a kickboxing academy like around my my house, so i start training there. Then i make a couple of tournaments. My coach tell me like hey, you’re, really good, so just start the train, still training and and that’s it i just jumped to mma. When i made my first mma fight, i don’t know anything about wrestling anything about the jujitsu. Just kickboxing and like just hurt and let’s go, you know, i think that’s the one thing when you think about mexico fighters. You always think the heart. The heart stands up above everything else like they’re, always they always fight from their heart which separates them from a lot of other countries and speaking of uh mma from mexico you’re starting to see fighters like you, like yeah here, uh guys like cain, velasquez, efrain escudero. What do you think it will take before uh mma becomes a big big sport in mexico, just like boxing and just like lucha libre um. I think that mma is is, is what is that for now? Is that a sport with more? How can i say with more um that that i don’t know the sport of the moment? Why? Because, because one you you can see here in in in the pandemic, you know so this is the first sport who started to make events again. So you can see the events in mexico like 10 years ago 300 people there in the events, then, when combat america started going to monterey. 6. 000 people. 7. 000 people. So it’s taking a lot of advantage with every sport. I think it’s is. I respect a lot the boxing, but i don’t know just for now in this uh in this moment, just one or two big stars, you know and in mma there’s a lot of big guys. You know like very good people, training fighting out there and it’s it’s like. I don’t know for now the the best part for for me. I respect the lucha libre. I respect uh boxing, but for now mma is taking a lot of advantage when you, when you think, like your career, your entire career, you fought for kombate and kobache is one of the biggest organizations in the world. Why did you decide? You know what i’m going to go to the contender series. I mean you had it, the contender or kombate was big, it’s huge, but you still chose to go to the contender series. Why did you choose to do that? Why did you choose to come to the ufc instead, probably because my contract finished combated the last year, 2019 and um? If you are in this sport, if not just to fight uh with uh, like um, the people who is like around to mexico or around united states or latin america, so when when for me like for me being this, sport is not just to say to the People, okay, i’m fighter, i’m this! I train just this is my my life. I want to fight every every people in in all the world. You know the the champions the the best people in the world so that that’s why my contract finished and – and i want to to to prove myself and to prove the the world. What what can i do? You know that’s why i start looking for other options. I work really good with combat americans. They work with me really good, but i think i work two years two years and a half and i make a good work there. So it’s just to prove myself that i belong to the best um to the best uh yeah to the best league in mma. You know so, and ufc is the best league. You know the best in in the in the business. I want to talk a little bit about your fight. I mean like, like we talked about at the beginning. It didn’t go your way. Do you feel like not having people in attendance having a quiet arena being able to hear everything um rather than hearing the crowd? Do you feel like that affected your performance at all, or did you or do you fight without even noticing it? No? No! No! I i! I really feel good in the fight. I don’t feel like panic, i don’t feel uh. Something was wrong there. Everything was good for me, everything every every step that i make every job the first round. I just try to to find my my range i find to find little holes. You know because this guy was a very ex experiment, the guy so the first one i just tried to move and and find some things that i see in in my opponent. So the second round, i feel really good, very good condition, very good um. With my technique with everything, but things happen, you know like uh, this guy showed me a hook, then my reaction was like a [ __ ] shoot wrestling, shoot and he’d. Take me with one of his favorites chokes. You know so i think the best one with this guy in this black belt is brazilian, so he’s very good in the ground. Things happen it’s like if i throw like a big cross, my my my for me the the best thing that i have. I think the hands, so it’s the same. These guys have very good chokes. It’S these things happens. I don’t know, i just feel like so tired and it is what it is i can. I can put excuses here like oh, my coaches or, oh probably i don’t know i am i have 29, so it is what it is. This is a sport. Sometimes you lose sometimes you win and to the next one. So i feel a little angry with the result, but no problem to to the next one. The the good thing is, i mean it’s not the first time you hear about a fighter losing on the contender series and then getting a call from dana white. A little later saying, hey, look, we need, we need you to step in, i mean you have an amazing record of it’s 17-3 now right like that, that’s a very, very good record uh. Do you think that you know maybe that’s an option? Maybe just stay ready and you might get a short notice call to compete in the ufc yeah. For sure this is a very uh, very good option. I know people lose there and the one or two months later they call so just stay ready. I’M i’m! I lose five, but i don’t lose anything just just one fight and stay ready for the next one i i am hungry to demonstrate to that. I belong here. You know that i belong to the best um to the best league in the in the world. To i want to show the people i think in these five in this fight i just uh show the people little part of my my preparation of my of what can i do you know, so i’m really excited to show the world. What can i do? I know i’m very i’m i’m better than that day, but i can’t make anything i just um take the uh [ __ ], losing in my record and let’s let’s go to the next one. I want to talk about um another fighter from mexico, a guy. I’M a huge fan of and someone that you train with um yaya rodriguez. What’S it like working with a guy like that, i mean he’s, got some of the best striking in the ufc. So so, what’s it like working with him and and how does he make you better um when i started uh my first time here, training in chicago i meet ya and it was very i’m. Ver was very excited because he’s like you, you know so for me to see jayer training here with to see how he trained the the the the movement, the the big gigs and everything was so huge. But the thing here is: how can i learn every day? A little bit from from him a little bit one day next day, i can learn other things every day i learn, even if we are not training. I learned a lot of things like how do you perform the the fight day or how you can be better? Like in your life, so is a really good friend and uh he’s making that things good. For now he’s he have a injury, the leg, but he’s still training every day’s like upper body. He he’s preparing himself to to the next fight. I know he’s he’s there he’s there. He want the fight too, but the people don’t understand that this thing happened. This guy have a lot of fights out there and uh injuries always happen, but he’s still training every day, he’s still trying with the team and that’s it. This is a everything everything so sorry, every day when i go to the gym, i say i learn a little bit from from yeah a little bit every day, so he’s very good guy with with us and um he’s like it’s very good to see this guy Training, you know it’s very weird, because a lot of jumps a lot of big kicks, so i just when his training i jump. Looking, what can i learn? A little move, little step everything, so this is very good to see this guy training. I want to get your uh your predictions. For that fight i mean he’s, got i mean he’s going to fight zabeet, which that’s fight is crazy. As someone who who trains with yair, do you think you can beat him yeah for sure? For sure i know it’s a bit, he he’s very good he’s very good striker, very good, but i think he caught too much weight. I think he have two or three things that we can take advantage from there yeah. It is way way better fighter. Very very good, kicks and probably save. It is very good, the first and the second round, i think, with the five rounds it’s gon na be very hard. So, let’s see – let’s see i i i trust in my team. I trust in in my teammate. So i know it’s gon na be a very good fight. All the other people want to see the fight and uh. My teammate is is really excited to the fight, but sometimes people don’t understand that this thing happened and this thing happened. Yeah injury happened, it’s mma. It’S not it’s not like just boxing. We kick every day. We wrestle every day we grappling every day, so we are exposed every day to uh injuries, but he’s recovering every day, he’s he’s making the things good. I know this. This fight is gon na happen soon and when this happened, i know my my guy gon na be with a hand and not that day i wan na ask one more prediction and i’ll ask two more questions, but one more prediction: big fight coming up. In my opinion, right there with you you’re one of the best strikers in the world, israel adesanya he’s fighting paulo costa, two people who are undefeated. What uh, who do you think, is going to win that one um. I i really like the asania. The the striking is really really good, but let’s see this this case, i know because i fight in that case, so this case is really really short. So, with the pressure from the other guy, the yeah it’s gon na be hard. Probably the the hardest fight, because the case is so uh smaller. So if, if he winded fight with this case – but i don’t know – probably i go with asania because i think he’s better better in the in the striking he’s very smart, very good kicks. But with all the pressure with paula costa is bigger, i don’t know, i don’t know everything happened in this fight all right. One last question from me: so i always i kind of built this platform by by making match-ups so saying you know, after a fight, this guy should fight this guy. Is there one person whether they currently fight or they used to fight? Is there one person that you look back and say i would have loved to fight that guy at some point in my life yeah for sure in 145 yeah, because i i i started looking his fights, you know when i was younger when i started training. I know probably this never happened because jose aldo, probably his moment is um. Probably he have like four or five fights more and that’s it for or i don’t know, but now he go for 135. But this is one of the fights that i can i want. I wanted for for a future for in my mind you know so and uh last question for me um. When can we expect you back in the cage? I know you just got back back into training um. If it was up to you. When would you be fighting so for me, i can fight like two weeks. Three weeks i swear, i i i’m ready. I i just started diet again start training again when i start training. I take all my my my life for the ride for the right way. Like with my diet way in my life with i sleep early uh, i wake up early every day, so i try to make the good things every day, because i respect what i what i make. I respect my my coach to go early training. So i’m ready. I’M ready, i’m ready. I am very hungry to show that the world. What what can i do? I repeat this. Every day yeah i lose my lafaye, but i’m ready i’m ready. Probably if i need to make another fight. Okay, i make another five, but i will be here in this year. I know my my time is coming all right, man, i’m a huge fan and i uh. I really liked your performance. I know it didn’t go your way, but i think i think a lot of people will find out sooner rather than later, how good you really are 17 and 3 fighting for kombucha and now contender series. There’S great things coming from you and all the best man stay safe, and hopefully we can see you out there sooner rather than later yeah. I hope i i i that’s why i’m i’m here and thank you for for for this moment um i will we. I will be training for the next one, and thank you for for this. Of course, man, we’ll uh, we’ll get you back on after the next one and and we’ll get back on and until you’re at the ufc. I hope i hope my english is better in the next interview. Yeah, maybe we’ll do the next one in spanish. You never know yeah for sure. Alright, man, all the best, see you

Sergio Pineiro

Sergio Pineiro is the Founder of FighterPath.com and host of the Quarantinecast podcast. Based in Canada he is both a sports journalist and MMA enthusiast. He practices the sport but has a passion for the individual stories of training, fighting and living the fighting lifestyle.

Leave a Reply