Nick Barnes Ready to Make a Splash at RFA 38 in Front of UFC President Dana White
Coming off an undefeated first three years of his career, welterweight Nick Barnes suffered his first loss in 2015 to Jesse Taylor at Smash Global’s Main Event show.
For Barnes, the loss was made more so frustrating by the fact that he feels an injury derailed his efforts and ultimately cost him a submission loss.
“Fighting Jesse was definitely a gamble for me,” Barnes told MMAWeekly.com. “I could see he had a bit more size than me and more skill than me having been doing it longer than me, but I really wanted to try and see how I’d do against someone like that.
“I popped my ankle and couldn’t compete to the best of my abilities and ended up losing the fight by rear-naked choke. You can’t get too bummed by it. You can’t dwell on it too much, but just learn from it and try to become a better fighter for it.”
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Barnes rebounded off his loss to Taylor with a submission victory over James Terry at Bellator 147 four months later.
“When those bigger organizations call you, you really want to show them you’re ready to fight, so I wanted to take the fight and show them that I was ready,” Barnes said.
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“I went in there a little tired from the weight cut, and (Terry) definitely had some great hands, but I weathered the storm and got the takedown and finished him with a rear-naked choke in the first.”
Barnes (10-1) will look to pick up his second straight win when he takes on Jose Diaz (6-1) in a main card 170-pound bout at RFA 38 on Friday in Costa Mesa, Calif.
“It’s definitely another one of those fights where it’s not too much of a gamble, but (Diaz is) a tough opponent,” said Barnes. “He’s fought some tough guys. It should be a good challenge.
“It looks like he’ll try to look for a quick submission, so I’ve got to use my stand-up, my combinations and my movement to try to wear him out, and if it goes to the ground, see where it goes.”
With an opportunity to impress UFC staff at the show, Barnes is even more motivated than he’d normally be to go out and prove he has big show potential.
“Any time I take any fight, I always take it seriously,” Barnes said. “With Dana White in the crowd, it definitely adds to it, but every time I step into the cage, I’m ready to rock and put on a good show for the fans.
“A lot of the times I’ve been on bigger shows, I’ve had a good showing, so I feel I’m right on the verge of getting to that next step and getting those opportunities.”
