Gegard Mousasi is currently one of the best middleweight fighters in all MMA right now, but the fighter is starting to notice a major change in the sport he loves.
“It’s entertainment value,” Mousasi told MMA Junkie. “It’s like a soap opera. People like the drama, people want to see breakups and makeups. I don’t know what they see. They like to see expensive stuff on Instagram. It’s not just fighting.”
Mousasi feels that while he has a very calm personality, but he says that it does not matter what people think of him right now.
“I figured out, it doesn’t matter if I’m polite or not, or if I’m humble and respectful to my opponent,” Mousasi said. “It doesn’t matter. People will like you or still hate you for that. Now, I just speak my mind. Still people don’t like it. Some people like it. At least I’m being myself. I say what I feel. I don’t make things up. I don’t feel like I’m selling somebody something. I’m not an actor. I’m just more outspoken. I’m not promoting anything,” he said. “I’m just being myself. I understand how it works now. Being a quiet guy and saying, ‘I like this fight and I respect my opponent,’ nobody gives a (expletive) about that. Nowadays, the good guys always come last. It’s the idiots. People like that. If you’re a bad guy, people are interested to know you. I can play the bad guy. I don’t need to be liked. If they hate me, they’re going to want to watch me lose. People want to see a reason people are fighting each other. So I’ll give them a reason.”
Mousasi even admits that his fighting style has undergone some changes after complaints from some UFC officials.
“I started off very quickly, because I got complaints from the UFC that I had a boring fight with (Costas Phillippou), so I thought, I’ll show them I can finish guys,” Mousasi said. “I felt I needed to prove something. I’m not going to make that mistake again. I’m not going to be patient. I’m not going to want go through him. I’m going to take my time, but I don’t believe it’s going to last three rounds. The first round, I was dominating. I started off very quickly, because I got complaints from the UFC that I had a boring fight with Philippou, so I thought, I’ll show them I can finish guys. I felt I needed to prove something. I’m not going to make that mistake again.”
UFC Fight Night 99 takes place on Saturday, November 19 from the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland with Gegard Mousasi and Uriah Hall headlining.
