Chase Sherman returns to the Octagon this weekend at UFC Fight Night Atlantic City, facing Justin Willis in a heavyweight division clash.
The heavyweight hasn’t been seen in the Octagon since UFC Fight Night Singapore, but he has been out of action to spend time with family and pick up a few new skills.
“Man, I just don’t know…I guess its because I just stayed so busy last year. They had to kind of get in a few other heavyweights, I fought five times in fifteen months. So I guess they were giving some other guys some opportunities, they actually asked me to fight (Tai) Tuivasa right after I got done with that fight in November. They asked me to fight in February and I was like ‘man, I want to enjoy Christmas and the holidays with my family.’ I’ve been on the road and I just flew to China, I’m gonna have to fly back to Australia and obviously I lost that fight. I was trying to get back in the gym and work on a few different things, instead of going right back into training camp and learn a few more things before I was rushed into another fight. But after February, I was like ‘yeah, I want to fight.’ Just nothing came up and last minute, they were like ‘this is what we got, take it or leave it.’ I was like ‘f*ck it, lets do it,’” Sherman said in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
During that fifteen month stretch of fights mentioned by Sherman, it saw the heavyweight earn two wins in five fights, with those victories coming over Rashad Coulter and Damian Grabowski.
Sherman also has quite the dislike for UFC fighter Colby Covington, but he hopes that the welterweight is focused on UFC 225 and not their rivalry.
“I haven’t heard anything from him man, he’s getting ready for a title fight. I don’t think he’s too worried about me, I know he’s going to be sitting behind a computer screen readying for my downfall on April 21 and I can’t give him the pleasure of letting that happen. He’s got a big fight coming up against RDA…that’s going to be tough one, he better be ready,” says Sherman.
UFC Fight Night Atlantic City takes place on Saturday, April 21 from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey with Edson Barboza and Kevin Lee headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Fox Sports 1.
