In all of his globetrotting adventures over a lengthy MMA and kickboxing career, Duane Ludwig has never fought in the United Kingdom.
But the 34-year-old Colorado native gets his first taste of life inside a cage in England this Saturday when he takes on Che Mills in the first bout on the main card of UFC on FUEL TV 5 from the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England.
“No I guess the closest place I’ve been was Germany,” said Ludwig (21-13 MMA, 4-4 UFC), who says because of his vast experiences in different countries, he’s pretty unflappable to a change in scenery at this point in his career.
“I don’t care (about fighting Mills in his backyard). There will be a lot of fans for me as well. We’re all mixed martial artists and athletes. I think the fans will appreciate me for being there, as well as I appreciate being in there. There may be a few more jeers than cheers because I’m an American, but I’m just going in there to fight exactly the way I trained to.”
But just to be sure that his body was ready for the time zone change, Ludwig arrived in Holland two weeks ago and trained with UFC on FUEL TV 5 co-headliner Amir Sadollah.
“It was a little weird, but Amir was cool and a great training partner,” said Ludwig, who actually defeated Sadollah by unanimous decision last August. “I was definitely happy that we crossed paths.”
Ludwig, who is coming off a first-round KO loss to Sadollah’s opponent, and Nottingham native Dan Hardy, said he switched up his training camp for Mills by working out with fellow Colorado native Shane Carwin in Las Vegas where he was filming the latest season of the The Ultimate Fighter.
“In Las Vegas I had no distractions other than focusing on training and myself, which was very nice,” Ludwig said.”The thing that was different about Vegas was I had all my same coaches, but I had a bunch of new training partners. I had Nate Marquardt and Eliot Marshall and the whole crew from TUF contestants everyday for twice a day. Definitely beneficial.”
Ludwig isn’t shying away from the pressure that back-to-back losses has put on him.
“Yes of course I feel extra pressure coming off back-to-back losses. I gotta make sure I go out there and perform, fight my fight and come out with the win,” he said.
“I’m just focused on my fight. Everything outside of that doesn’t matter. All I can do is game plan and come out and have a good fight, I can’t worry about things I don’t control. The one thing I can control is myself.”
Ludwig said he believes Mills, a similar Muay Thai striker will keep things standing.
“I definitely think it will be a standup fight, but it’s mixed martial arts and if the opportunity presents itself or if I’m in trouble or need to make some creative changes, then I will adapt to the situation,” Ludwig said.
“Bang,” who holds the UFC record for fastest knockout warned fans not to blink during the bout.
“I’m ready to just drop bombs and have some fun,” he said. “I was born to do this, it’s definitely what I love to do. I’m glad that I have another opportunity to do it again in England.”