Curtis Millender returns to action this weekend at UFC 236, facing Belal Muhammad in a welterweight division affair.
The fighter is coming off of a quick first round submission loss at UFC Fight Night Wichita and Millender knows that he needs to put fear back into the hearts of the welterweight division.
“I think I took more away…I need to get better at…the whole welterweight division, it’s only one way to beat me and I just gave that away. I made it look like that’s gonna be easy to do every time, I have to go out there and put the fear back into everybody’s hearts so they know that shits not going to be easy like that,” says Millender in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
That loss at UFC Wichita may have been the first loss for Millender in the UFC, but it was also his third submission defeat as a professional MMA fighter.
Millender believes the biggest advantage he has against Muhammad this Saturday is the striking game.
“Striking wise, I’m miles ahead of him. If he thought Geoff Neal was fast, he’s gonna have some issues. Like I say everytime, everybody fighting me has the same game plan. They might be a striker, everybody thought me and Elizeu (Zaleski Dos Santos) was going to be this amazing fight of the night. He switched it up, that’s always in the back of my mind. I’m not going to let that stop me from going out there and performing and doing the things I know I can do,” says Millender.
UFC 236 takes place on Saturday, April 13 from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia with Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
