Brad Pickett On Being The Underdog Against Thomas Almeida: “It’s Crazy”
Brad Pickett is a top notch fighter and has fought some of the best fighters in the world, but by looking at the UFC rankings, he’s ranked 15th. Before moving down to flyweight, he was ranked fifth in the bantamweight division. Impressed yet? if not, your not the only one.
Pickett is scheduled to fight Thomas Almeida tomorrow night at UFC 189. The oddsmakers have him as a 10-to-1 underdog against the undefeated Brazilian prospect. This does not settle well with him at all.
“It’s crazy,” Pickett told MMAFighting.com on Thursday. “It’s not exactly like I don’t punch hard and I’m not a well-rounded fighter. I was ranked No. 5 at bantamweight before I went down to flyweight.”
“I think [people are writing me off]. Obviously. Everyone is seeing a 19-0 guy who’s finished like 14 fights. Of course, he got a little bit of a hype train. So for me, last time I fought an undefeated prospect was Demetrious Johnson, and I beat him. Demetrious Johnson has gone on to do great things, so I think Thomas Almeida is young and he will go on the do great things. But I think it’s my time to humble him and give him a learning curve.”
Pickett admits he sees the twilight of his career fast approaching, but knows that he can still compete with the fighters at the top of the division. Also, Pickett knows that a potential title shot is not in his windshield and the chance of that happening anytime soon is not likely.
“That’s the thing. I’m not really interested in making another run,” Pickett acknowledged. “I just want exciting fights. So I’ve got [Almeida] as an exciting fight, but if I beat him, yeah, of course, he’s a prospect, he’s ranked No. 14 in the weight class, so it’s not going to propel me into the top-10 or anything, I’m not going to be going ‘oh wow, I could get a title shot.’ So I understand. Once I win this one this weekend, I look at the next fight: which is a fight that excites me? I’m not worried about [the title picture].”
UFC 189 takes place on July 11, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event will be shown on pay-per-view, Fox Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
