Late changes are not an issue for Caio Magalhaes.
Initially set to take on Josh Samman at Saturday’s UFC on FOX 11 card, “Hellboy” is scheduled to welcome Luke Zachrich to the Octagon, but the change of opponents only 10 days before the fight won’t bother the Nova Uniao middleweight.
“My strategy didn’t change much at this point, so I will follow everything that I was training before,” Magalhaes told MMAFighting.com. “They both have similar styles, so it didn’t change much to me to be honest. My new opponent likes to do more jiu-jitsu, but that’s what I do, so I’m cool.”
Ready for his second UFC fight in the United States, Magalhaes plans to finish Zachrich, who enters the UFC with a 13-2 record and 11 stoppage victories, including six submissions.
“Fighting in Orlando is going to be good for me,” he said. “It’s my return to the United States. I made my UFC debut there and I lost, so I want to beat this guy and show the American fans and the UFC what I can do. There are going to be a lot of Brazilians in this card, so it will be a good energy.”
“I always go for the finish, but we can’t get it all the time,” he continued. “My goal in this fight, since I started my camp, is to finish him by knockout or submission.”
A former Shooto South American champion, “Hellboy” suffered his first professional loss against Boddy Roberts in his UFC debut, but returned to the win column in 2013 with a submission win over Karlos Vemola and a unanimous decision victory against Nick Ring.
“I’m focused in this fight now, but I obviously want to fight guys with better names so people will give me more credit for my wins,” he said. “He’s hungry to get the win and make his name, so I know it’s going to be a tough fight. I’m always waiting for the worst.”
UFC on FOX 11 takes place at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, and will be headlined by a number one contender heavyweight bout between Travis Browne and Fabricio Werdum.