Now, it’s back to the Octagon and a high-profile bout against Alexander Volkov on Saturday’s UFC 254 main card. And though Abu Dhabi is a long way from Alabama, after competing in Australia, Singapore and Canada, getting another stamp on the passport is no issue for him.
“I'm excited because I've never been over there and I've always wanted to go,” he said of the voyage to Fight Island. “And I’ve got my coaches with me and I've got a great team, so we always make every trip fun. So it's gonna be super cool to travel with them and go see that part of the world.”
He gets to get into a fistfight, too, which is always a good thing for the No. 10-ranked Harris, who is looking to bounce back from a May loss to Alistair Overeem. A win over the No. 7-ranked Russian will be the perfect rebound, but looking at the Overeem bout, there are plenty of extenuating circumstances that almost excuse Harris’ first defeat since November 2017.
There’s the fact that he rocked and almost finished Overeem early in the fight, a training camp in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic that was less than ideal, and most importantly, the emotions behind Harris’ first fight since the tragic death of his daughter Aniah. And while his daughter will always be in his heart and mind for every fight, he can take the positives from his performance and bring them into this weekend’s assignment on Fight Island.
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“We were coming off of COVID, it was one of the first fights back and training wasn't as consistent as it has been for this fight and I still went in there and I performed pretty well,” he said. “I wasn't happy with some areas of the fight - my conditioning and things like that because I take pride in those aspects of my game over the last couple of years. So I looked at it like, yeah, you didn't get the win, but you did go in there and almost put away a legend very early.”
And now he gets to go again.
“For sure,” Harris said. “I think this fight is huge for me because coming off the loss to Overeem, I wasn't set back much. I'm getting an opportunity to beat Volkov and put myself right back in the mix. It's almost like nothing ever happened with Overeem. I look at it as a blessing. I get an opportunity to keep my name relevant and keep my name in the mix and keep chasing that title that I so desperately want. So I'm excited. I've been training my butt off for so long for this and I'm ready.”
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October 23, 2020 at 10:56PM
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The Belt Is Still In The Cards For Walt Harris - The Official Website of the Ultimate Fighting Championship
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