Darrick Minner reacts after his submission victory over TJ Laramie of Canada in their featherweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on September 19, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Darrick Minner recently picked up an impressive win over TJ Laramie but his journey to the UFC has been long and bumpy
Darrick Minner was the latest guest to feature on MMA Unhinged as the 30-year-old spoke about his future plans and how he got to the UFC.
The UFC is possibly the biggest MMA promotion in the world and the road to stardom isn’t easy.
Minner got his first UFC win after defeating TJ Laramie 10 days back. This was a sweet moment for the 30-year-old as he had lost his debut fight to Grant Dawson.
He claimed that a weight had been lifted off his shoulder after the first UFC win but added losing to Herbert Burns got him thinking a lot.
That fight took place in the Contender Series in 2019 and missing out on the UFC hurt Minner:
“When I lost to Herbert Burns, I got into a depression, a career depression.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was talking to my manager, what do we do? Do I ever get a shot again in the UFC?
“He was like ‘Man, let’s give it one more year, let’s see what happens one more year. Bust your a** for one more year.’”
However, another fight got him going again and he finally made it to the UFC:
“So, we got a call to fight Terrance McKinney and headlining event out in the middle of Nebraska. They wanted a high event, a big main event.
“Both of us were coming off the Contender Series, that was good. I said let’s do it and then I choked him out pretty quick.
“After that I was like I do belong here let’s keep it rolling and got the short notice call.”
Minner also joked about how much of an underdog he was in his previous fight but he still got the submission win and helped some of his friends make a ton of money.
The 30-year-old has 22 submission wins from his 25-11 record, and he was keen on fighting again in November.
However, he wasn’t looking to call out any UFC star. The 30-year-old was open to fighting anyone the UFC threw at him, and he was hopeful of fighting at Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
Minner is an entertaining fighter to watch as he gives it his all from the first second. He is aiming for another win before the end of the year and that could be another great fight from 2020.
This is an exclusive interview from MMA Unhinged. For more exclusive interviews and content please follow the link.
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