World Series of Fighting (WSOF) 33: "Gaethje vs. Dugulubgov" goes down this Friday (Oct. 7, 2016) at Kansas City Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. It's a big card for the promotion with title defenses for both Justin Gaethje and David Branch at Lightweight and Light Heavyweight, respectively.
It's also the biggest fight of Ozzy Dugulubgov's career. Currently riding a three-fight win streak, Dugulubgov had been quietly biding his time since winning at WSOF 26 in Dec. 2015, but his long wait is finally over.
The 8-2 Jackson-Winkeljohn prospect has a big mountain to climb in Justin Gaethje. At 16-0 with four successful title defenses under his belt, "The Highlight" would like nothing more than to make Dugulubgov number five.
MMAmania.com recently spoke to Dugulubgov about earning the opportunity to fight Gaethje and getting ready for his toughest opponent to date.
"Yeah preparation is good, thank God you know. I'm keeping it busy. I'm out here in New Mexico at Greg Jackson's gym and getting ready for the fight. We have a bunch of guys you know. It's so many athletes here right now, a lot of people coming and going so, it's always a variety of training partners and tough guys."
Even in a large and legendary gym full of "tough guys" there's still one person Dugulubgov can cite as a lot of fun to work with, though he doesn't want to focus on one style of fighting when facing Gaethje.
"Donald Cerrone as a sparring partner (is) one of the toughest guys. You know there's a particular plan we have to bring to this fight and the main idea is to be prepared for any situation where the fight will take us. That's our main goal is to be prepared for all the aspects of the fight and whatever (kind) of fight it goes to we want to be the best at it."
Even though Gaethje's reputed to be a human highlight reel of striking there's no chance Dugulubgov or his team are forgetting his was an outstanding amateur wrestler, nor that he likes leg kicks just as much as his hands.
"Every time we look at our opponents we look at them as being dangerous in every aspect such as striking, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and we're just trying to be prepared for any situation. Yeah the (kicks) are one of his things that he does very well and we're obviously preparing for that as well."
Dugulubgov is an intriguing combination of humility and ability. He's not the type of fighter who puts down an opponent or talks smack, but he's not lacking in confidence about his training for Gaethje.
"I'm (just) a simple guy just trying to improve on everything little by little. That's it, nothing special. It's a no brainer that (for) this kind of fight you have to be at your highest level of performance. We're just trying to be good at punching, good at kicking, good at wrestling -- everything, everything."
Every opponent of Gaethje's that I've talked to feels that he can be "the one" to hand him his first loss. All of them were confident, all of them were defeated. What can Dugulubgov do to be "the one" in 16-1? To Dugulubgov it's simple.
"It's very hard to talk about the future. Only God knows what's going to happen over there, but I'm going bring to him Ozzy. He's never faced Ozzy before, so that's the new thing I'm going to bring to him."
And if that simple plan works out well Dugulubgov already knows who he'll be facing next, but because of who he trains with now he also knows who he wouldn't want next.
"I heard that if I take the title that we're gonna have an immediate rematch, so if I take the title the next fight would be Gaethje again. Actually Luis Palomino is now with us training over here and he's a good guy, tough guy as well. He's dropping the weight class so he's not going to be fighting at 155 any more."
That rules out Palomino getting another shot at Gaethje or Dugulubgov having to face a teammate so it's good news all around. In the meantime until the fight Dugulubgov works on keeping his physical and spiritual sides in balance.
"The thing that I know is we are created to give, not to take. If everybody would follow that mentality and try to give back more, I believe we would live in a better world. That's my opinion, my little opinion. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right, I don't know -- I'm just human. Sometimes it's not just about materialistic things. When we hear the words sharing, giving, right away first thing that comes in our mind to give something such as money. A lot of times it's a friendship, it's a trust, it's a loyalty -- being there for someone who has a bad day you know. That's the things you cannot value or measure with money."
That alone may make Dugulubgov one of the most interesting contenders Gaethje has faced. His goal is not to be famous or highly decorated -- his goal is to be the best athlete he can be and prove it under the most adversity.
"It may sound weird but the fighting business itself, I never chase titles or anything like that. Fighting is something that I do good, and I believe I can make some money out of it. I do it to feed my family and to feed myself. Secondly I like the challenge. I like the feeling of being against a trained opponent who is trying to be better than you and get his hand raised. That's an amazing challenge. The cage is locked. No more politics. It doesn't matter where you're from or what language you speak or what they say -- it's all about you now."
On Oct. 7 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo., it's all about Gaethje and Dugulubgov. The complete audio of our interview is below and complete fight coverage is HERE on MMAmania.com.