Athletes
Mike Breeden Is Rolling With The Punches
Lightweight Mike Breeden Sees The Perfect Opportunity To Get His First UFC Win At UFC Fight Night: Luque vs Dos Anjos
Mike Breeden’s 11-year-old son Armani has received a lot of good advice from dad, but the actions are always more important than the words, and since the lightweight’s last visit to the Octagon in April of 2022, the actions have spoken volumes as he’s dealt with starting his UFC career off with two losses, dealing with a camp switch, injuries, and all the other stuff that doesn’t necessarily show up on an Instagram feed.
“He sees the hand I've been dealt,” said Breeden. “And he's like, ‘That's so messed up.’ Well, what can you do? There's nothing I can do about something but just keep my head down and keep working and my time will come. And I'm super excited to show him that if you put the work in, anything's possible, and you just got to keep getting back up and keep dusting yourself off, because that's what it's all about. It's the ones that keep on going. There's so much talent out there that I've met that they could have been so much more, but they just hung it up. They quit going.”
Breeden, 34, is no quitter. And as he approaches a Saturday matchup against short-notice replacement Terrance McKinney in Las Vegas, he’s not about to start now. In fact, he’s on a mission to show that he’s better than an 0-2 UFC record.
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“We just got to keep it moving,” he said. “Just keep pushing and my time will come. And I found a new home, started a new program, and just been working. You know what, the only way to get to where you want to be is work.”
That attitude allowed him to take a reasonable look at his debut loss to Alexander Hernandez, which came on nine days’ notice for the Springfield, Missouri native, who had previously lost to Anthony Romero on season four of Dana White’s Contender Series.
“I fought Alex Hernandez on nine days’ notice, had to cut 30 pounds, and that dude, he is one of the best,” said Breeden. “So he's a dangerous dude, and I think that was an early stoppage and I was in that fight, but the ref's trying to protect me, so I'm not too mad. And then the next fight, I honestly thought should have went a little different, but it is what it is.”
The next fight against Nathan Levy in April of last year resulted in a three-round decision loss, but then injuries and the suspension of his head coach at Glory MMA, James Krause, left Breeden in limbo. Enter his teammate Trey Ogden and the Marathon MMA gym in Overland Park, Kansas, where he now makes his home.
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“I was kind of freaking out for there for a minute (when he had to leave Glory MMA) because we had a lot of high level people in there, a lot of good bodies, high level coaching, and then just for all that to be taken away, I was kind of panicking,” Breeden explains. “And then, on top of that, dealing with my injuries, I was just in a really bad spot. But once I got to Marathon and gave it a shot, it was probably one of the best decisions that I could have made. We don't have as many high-level fighters, but we got some high-level fighters there. And then all the young and up and coming guys, they're hungry. They give me the work that I need to get, the push that I need. And I'm falling in love with the sport again. Just being in that room over at Marathon, the energy is contagious.”
Plus, just like he had Krause, he has Ogden, a fellow UFC vet who knows exactly what he’s dealing with every step of the way, including on fight night.
“It's super important to have that,” said Breeden. “I know he wouldn't steer me wrong and he wouldn't ask me to do anything he wouldn't do. He's been really great, and this wouldn't be our first time walking out together. He's actually cornered me in LFA before, and I'm just glad that I've got somebody I can trust and to call out things and just get after it. I got full trust in Trey for this fight.”
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And full trust that when the Octagon door shuts on him and McKinney, the old “Money Mike” will be there for the world to see. As Las Vegan Floyd Mayweather put it…
Hard work. Dedication.
UFC Fight Night: Luque vs Dos Anjos took place live from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas on August 12, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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