Zak Cummings is back in action at UFC Fight Night Rochester, facing Trevin Giles in a middleweight division clash.
The fighter is coming off of a win at UFC On Fox 31, but that victory came with it’s own set of consequences.
“I shattered my orbital (bone) in the first punch, so I was almost blind in one eye within the first seven seconds of the fight. At that point, it was just going on cruise control and I just kept on picking at him and fighting smart…being safe. I’m always going for a finish, but not at that one…that was a tough fight. He hits hard, he’s tough…he’s a big dude, a good wrestler. Had to do what I had to do to win, I was happy with the performance. I actually just watched it for the first time recently, I was happy with how everything went. Third round…I dropped him and I had no idea, I couldn’t see him. One (eye) was pretty much blank, it was swollen up…it was broken. The other one was…it got hit a few times, so I was seeing double and triple out of that eye. I just remember throwing a punch and he disappeared out of my vision and I was like ‘oh…where did he go? Did he shoot on me? Is he unconscious?’ It was a tough fight, I laid everything on the line in that one man. I was at the hospital afterwards getting my eye looked at and was just exhausted, it’s good to come away with a win though,” says Cummings in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
A victorious Cummings has now healed from that injury and is competing for the first time in over five months.
Cummings doesn’t exactly know how the fight will end on May 18, but the competitors knows that he has too many tools for Giles to overcome.
“Obviously, I feel good about my keys to victory. I definitely think that I’ve got too many tools to overwhelm him, I think I can knock him out on my feet. I think I can hurt him bad on my feet and maybe…he’s not afraid to shoot and he’s not afraid to wrestle, I got a lot of nasty submissions that I can catch people shooting in on me that I’ve proven over the years. I see me finishing him, I just don’t know…if he handles the power and shoots on me, it’s gonna be a submission. If I kind of overwhelm him with the striking, so be it. I see a finish, I think he’s gonna be very dangerous in the first round…but I see a finish,” says Cummings.
UFC Fight Night Rochester takes place on Saturday, May 18 from the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York with Rafael Dos Anjos and Kevin Lee headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+.
