Mark Munoz Talks Fighter Bonuses, Getting Knocked Out By King Mo

It’s been a rough road back for Mark Munoz in the lead up to UFC 162, his depression and obesity issues were a huge adversity for Munoz to overcome. Tonight Munoz will face Tim Boetsch, in what will probably be the toughest test of his career following surgery and a lay off.

I’m picking Munoz against Boetsch, mainly because I think he has the better skill set, but also because of the intensity shown by Munoz in the lead up. Munoz was on hand to talk to Bloodyelbow.com about some hot topics:

“Mentally, I’m excited to go into this fight. I’ve never felt this good before. This camp has been amazing. I needed this year to get straight. I needed these trials and struggles to open my eyes to a different perspective for training and doing everything. I was playing it from the hip. Every fight I’ve just been flying by the seat of my pants. I just did whatever I felt was right.”

Now that I have a team around me, things have been changed around a good bit. I’m so thankful that I went through this whole year, full of adversity, because now my eyes have been opened to something better. I didn’t do it with artificial help, either. It was all organic and natural. No TRT or any of that stuff. Just hard work and dedication.”

It certainly sounds like Munoz is in the right place for this fight, his mental state seems very positive and I hope that translates in to his performance at UFC 162.

“I don’t make any excuses, and I own those losses, but going into that fight with Matt Hamill, I got knocked out by a training partner and ended up with a concussion. About seven days prior to the fight, I was training with King Mo, and he caught me with a big knee and knocked me out. I didn’t pull out of the fight, and ended up not fighting the way I normally do. It was my fault, and I can’t blame anyone else.”

“Those fight bonuses become very critical to a lot of us. We’re not like other sports where we can solely focus on MMA. The sport is just too young for that for all of us to just be athletes. I’m a fighter, a gym owner and a personal trainer. Getting those bonuses kind of lighten the load financially, and allows me to spend more time with my family. If I don’t get a bonus, then I have to work even harder. That’s why I fight the way I do. I’m trying to get a finish. I’m not just trying to score points. I want a bonus bad. The reward justifies the risk, for me.”

Judging by his words, I expect to see the best Mark Munoz ever at UFC 162, which could be terrible news for Tim Boetsch. ‘The Barbarian’ is a great fighter, I’m not saying that I doubt that, but Munoz has always been a very impressive athlete at 185lbs.

Anyone else super pumped for fight night? Coz this guy is.