Nick Newell finally got his long-awaited and much-desired shot at an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) contract after he was given a spot on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series (DWTNCS) in order to prove his worth. Though many felt “Notorious” is ready for the Octagon straight away.
Nevertheless, the one-armed mixed marital arts (MMA) standout has no qualms about earning his way to the eight-sided cage. And if it means UFC wants to use his drawing power to build up its president’s show, then so be it.
He said as much during a recent interview on The MMA Hour:
.@NotoriousNewell explains why he doesn’t mind having to go through the Contender Series to get to the UFC. Watch full episode of #TheMMAHour: https://t.co/a9oorcgy3c pic.twitter.com/blE4DwWHs0
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) May 1, 2018
“It’s whatever. If I have to fight to get in there, I look at what it did for someone like Sean O’Malley, to build his star power, I think I can kind of make that happen, too. I bring a lot of viewers, people pay attention to me when I fight so I can bring people into this new show. I just want to get into the UFC and if they want to use me for this, to build this show, then I will do it. It’s not my company, it’s their vision so they can do whatever they want. In regards to that, do I think I belong in the UFC now if they gave me the option to do either or? Which one would I take? Obviously I would just go straight in. But if I have to do this that’s fine, it doesn’t matter to me. The opponent doesn’t matter to me, nothing matters to me in regards of that. The only thing that matters is that I have a path to get to where I want to go.”
Indeed, Sean O’Mally has been the recipient of plenty of promotional love after making his debut on the Contender Series, and is without a doubt the most recognizable name coming out of it.
But if Newell can get a victory on DWTNCS, then that title will obviously go to him. Unless, this guy manages to upstage them both.