Mario Miranda in action / Photo: Josh Hedges
Coming off a loss to Demian Maia, Miranda returns to action on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 24 this Saturday. Across the octagon from him will be Aaron Simpson, who is coming off two negative results. That should bring even more excitement to the cage, as it’s do-or-die time for both contestants.
“We both need the win, and I’ll be super determined and we have all the makings of an excellent fight,” he foretells.
“I don’t want to take anything from Demian last fight, but getting called up at the last moment influenced my game, and I didn’t manage to get in shape with just two weeks of preparation. He has a different style of pulling guard and it’s hard to adapt with so little time. Perhaps If I’d had more time I couldn’t have fought more free-flowingly, following the strategy I had planned,” says Super Mario in analysis.
But for Saturday’s challenge the fighter is more than ready.
“I made the most of my time off and then got back to training, so I started getting ready real early. Wrestling was part of my preparations, but not exactly the focus. I want to win convincingly, trading blow, grappling or doing ground and pound. I know he’s an excellent wrestler, with heavy hands, but I think I’m better technically and physical conditioning could make the difference in this fight,” says the fighter in finishing, in a statement on the UFC website.
Check out the card:
Rogerio “Minotouro” vs. Phil Davis
Dan Hardy vs. Anthony Johnson
DaMarques Johnson vs. Amir Sadollah
Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung
Alex Caceres vs. Mackens Semerzier
Jon Madsen vs. Mike Russow
John Hathaway vs. Kris McCray
Edwin Figueroa vs. Michael McDonald
Sean McCorkle vs. Christian Morecraft
Mario Miranda vs. Aaron Simpson
Johny Hendricks vs. T.J. Waldburger
Nik Lentz vs. Waylon Lowe