UFC 204: Interview with Ovince St. Preux about Jones, Shogun, Manuwa

Ovince St. Preux, the Florida native and UFC light heavyweight contender, never wanted to fight, and never thought he’d be in UFC.

St. Preux began training in martial arts while finishing his bachelor’s degree in sociology at the University of Tennessee. A standout high school football player and wrestler, St. Preux played football sporadically for the Volunteers, then found himself looking for a way to stay fit after he failed to make an NFL roster.

“I was in college and I wanted to do something to keep me in shape,” St. Preux said. “I wasn’t initially looking to fight, but it happened.”

St. Preux’s trainer saw something in 6-foot-3 205-pounder and kept pressing him to try actual competitive fighting.

“Me personally, that’s not what I wanted to do,” St. Preux said. “Eventually one thing led to another and I was in Virginia, where MMA was legal (it wasn’t in Tennessee at the time), having my first fight in front of 400-500 people at a Holiday Inn.

“When you’re playing football you don’t feel it,” St. Preux said of the crowd. “There are 22 guys out there at the same time, and fighting is different, it’s all on me. It was nerve wracking.”

1. ABOUT ST. PREUX: Now living in Knoxville, where he attended college, St. Preux is 19-8 as a professional. He isn't dominant in standup, boxing or on the ground, but he believes that's an advantage. His family moved from Haiti to Florida before he was born. As a fighter, St. Preux is unique in not having one particular dominant style.

“I work at things I’m not good at. I’m not great at one style. I wrestled in high school, but I wasn’t an All-American. In UFC there are K-1 strikers, but I want to be good at everything. You can be an elite striker, but I want to be good at everything. My jujitsu is solid, my striking is solid and I have some power.”

2. TAKING ON JON JONES: Jon Jones, one of the greatest UFC fighters of his era, fought St. Preux in April. A heavy underdog, St. Preux battled Jones, but lost in a unanimous decision. Fighters chalked the decision to Jones being rusty after returning from an injury, but St. Preux fought half the fight with a hairline fracture of his arm. The injury was severe enough the lefty's broken left arm was hanging during the last two rounds of the fight.

“I knew it was broken. I expected the pain to go away and it didn’t. I told myself to throw a couple punches and see how it would go, and it hurt bad. If you watch the fourth and fifth rounds, you can tell everytime I tried holding the arm up it hurt bad.

“I’m not going to flop for no one. I took the fight on two-weeks notice, had another week of media obligations, and that was even before breaking my arm, and I was still able to go five rounds. Eighty-percent of the people who have fought Jones couldn’t do that before.”

3. FIGHTING JIMI MANUWA AT UFC 204: St. Preux, ranked fifth in the Light Heavyweight division, battles striker Jimi "Poster Boy" Manuwa, ranked No. 8 in Manuwa's home country of England.

“It’s a good fight for both of us,” St. Preux said. “I’m fighting in his backyard, so there is a lot of pressure there. I think it’s on him being in his home country.

“The way I fight and the way he fights are completely different. My mindest is I want to be off the charts. After Jones I dedicated myself to the gym. I’m going on 15-16 straight days of training and I’m focused. That’s where I’m at right now. I’m ready.”

4. ON HIS 34-second KNOCKOUT OF MAURICIO 'SHOGUN' RUA": Mauricio Rua became an MMA legend in Japan fighting for the now defunct Pride Fighting Championship, a popular promotion for hardcore fight fans.

St. Preux shocked many when he knocked Rua out in 34 seconds in November 2014.

“The experience was crazy,” St. Preux said. “I had been a Shogun fan, I was a Shogun fan, I watched him in UFC and all his fights even when I was in UFC. Even when I fought him, I was still a fan, but I had to look at him as just another guy across from me.

“He’s extremely good and he’s extremely aggressive. My gameplan was to make him pressure me and get aggressive coming forward. I was wanting to be aggressive moving backward. I landed a good high kick to the body, that got his attention, and he came after me, and I was able to move back and got my shot as he came in.

5. ON GETTING A LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE SHOT: I want to see where (UFC 204) takes me. Hopefully I can get a shot against a top three guy, and put myself in a top contender spot and keep training hard. At the end of the day, when I fought Jones I had a short training camp and I took him five rounds. I think I can take on anyone in the division whether they are the champ or not."

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