To become a fighter, you have to want to be a fighter. It’s born inside of you, not something that is like, “oh this looks like fun, let’s do this.”
When you go through the ranks, the ultimate goal is to be in the top organization in the world, the UFC. That was the goal of Ian McCall, and he didn’t care what weight class he had to fight at to be in there.
McCall (11-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will make his highly anticipated debut, as he will face Demetrious Johnson (14-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at UFC on FX 2 on Friday March 2 in the United States and March 3 in Australia. The event will take place at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia. The fight is a part of the four-man flyweight tournament to crown the first ever UFC Flyweight Champion.
It was rumored for a better part of 2011 that we would see the flyweights in the UFC, but McCall wasn’t sure that would be the case and had planned on returning to bantamweight if that’s what it took to get him in the UFC.
“That thought (moving to bantamweight) came through my mind,” McCall told me.
“I thought that s**t, one day it might happen, but I might have to go back to bantamweight. I just see guys like Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benevidez doing so well. I figured I would be just fine at 35, but luckily, they made 25, and I think I’ll do even better there.”
McCall states he wouldn’t have waited too much longer to make the decision to back to bantamweight if the flyweight didn’t materialize.
“Not much longer at all. I would have probably fought my last fight with Tachi (Palace Fights) and then I would have probably tried to sign with the UFC. Just because I have a family to feed. Making Tachi money is good, but making UFC money, I can actually feed the whole family now.”
A lot of fans really don’t know about the latest star to sign with the UFC. He is the former Tachi Fight Palace Flyweight Champion. McCall feels he’s regular person who just happens to be a fighter and isn’t shy to express his thoughts and is a jokester in a lot of ways.
“I’m awesome, I’m really handsome, good-looking, I’m pretty good at fighting too, I’m entertaining to watch. I joke around and talk a lot of s**t, but I really don’t take much serious besides my family and my fighting. You can’t take life too serious. I’ve been realizing some people have been taking my jokes because I constantly joke kinda serious like I’m talking s**t or something. It’s not me. I kid. I’m not that guy. I’m not the guy that is macho and wants to beat everyone up.”
McCall has one of the coolest nicknames in MMA, “Uncle Creepy.” He isn’t a fan of nicknames at all and makes fun of a couple in particular.
“The name (Uncle Creepy) sounds a lot worse than it is. I’m not a fan of nicknmaes. I’ve always hated nicknames. I just always thought they were stupid, especially when people give themselves nicknames. Like, ‘Oh, I’m “The Crusher”, I’m the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy.”‘ It’s like no, you’re kind of a douchebag. I just always thought they were dumb.
One day, my friend’s son, who calls me Uncle Ian. It was three in the morning. I was trying to put him to bed. He just wanted to learn how to skateboard, so he’s like, “Uncle Creepy, Uncle Creepy skateboard”. Everyone heard it in the room, and it stuck.”
McCall faces Johnson in the opening round of the tournament and has nothing but praise for the last challenger to UFC Bantamweight Title.
“I have a lot of admiration for the guy. He’s accomplished so much recently that it’s the fight that I wanted. He sets obviously a really fast pace. He seems like a good guy. He’s not annoying. He’s a workhorse. It’s going to be an honor to fight the guy. Can’t wait to get in there with him.”
Considering Johnson just fought for the bantamweight title, you could make a case this could have the matchup in the finals, but McCall prefers the way the UFC sets this tournament up.
“I wanted to fight Benavidez in the finals. I don’t know for sure, but I’m pretty positive he’ll beat Urushitani. Joe’s another guy I admire. He’s a cool dude. He’s obviously really good. Either one of those fights I would have taken obviously. This is the fight (with Johnson) I wanted first to kind of prove myself to everybody.”
A lot of people and pundits consider McCall to be the best flyweight in the world, and he doesn’t shy away from that.
“I think I am. I know I’m gunna win. I’m the best.”
You can listen to the entire two-part interview with Ian McCall here.
You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.
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