LAS VEGAS – Jamal Pogues was stoked to get a UFC shot and make his debut in 2022, but the big picture got in the way.
Pogues’ mom, he said, is battling Stage 3 cancer. When his dad had a health issue, as well, he made the choice to help care for them, as well as his own family immediate family.
That meant the 27-year-old heavyweight couldn’t fight Tafon Nchukwi this past December.
“I had to really be a family person and family man, and I wasn’t mentally ready to fight,” Pogues said at Wednesday’s media day for UFC Fight Night 219 in Las Vegas. “I was trying to go through the camp, but then most of my time was back home just trying to make sure – take care of family, being a family guy. Respectfully, I didn’t want to come out here and not give my best, and I don’t want to put on a half-ass performance. I don’t want to come out here and make every excuse in the book like most people do. So I was like, let’s take the time, and let’s do it right. And I feel like that’s what I did.”
Pogues said the idea that he’ll be fighting in the UFC come Saturday is one that has him “numb” from what is most fighters’ dreams. But he said he’s trying to harness some energy that will have people thinking he’s wise beyond his years.
If nothing else, hopefully they won’t think he’s just a nobody.
“I’m not trying to get too excited, and I’m trying to act like I’ve been here before, and it’s crazy because half the time I’m a fan, and the other part of me is like, ‘Man, you still have a job, too,'” Pogues said “I’m just walking in this week as, like, ‘OK, stay calm. Look cool. Look focused. Act like – just look cool, man. Don’t do nothing weird.’ So it’s kind of a crazy week, man.”
Pogues (9-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is around a -250 favorite against Josh Parisian (15-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC), so expectations are high. He said trips to the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas have him with a better idea of managing his diet – and now any thoughts of moving back to light heavyweight pretty much are gone.
But a win over Parisian might be big enough to have Pogues asking after some bigger names in a hurry.
“If it’s not top 15, it doesn’t matter,” Pogues said. “We always see one-trick ponies. We see motherf*ckers get one win and then that’s it. And it’s not that I’m dissing (Parisian) or anything. But it’s like if it’s not top 15, in my head, it doesn’t matter. So once I get this win, it’s back into the gym again, it’s back to the lab, it’s back to grinding. It’s not, ‘Oh, I get one win – let’s go out and have some fun and let’s enjoy this moment.’ I came here with a goal. I’ve been training for a very long time. If it’s not top 15, it’s nothing to be celebrating for.
“It’s time to get to work. So we’re going to take this win, we’ll take a fight at a time, we’re going to do it right, prepare correctly, and then we’ll take one fight at a time. I guarantee in the next two years, I guarantee I’ll be in the top 15, and then that’s when the real work starts.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 219.
