CES welterweight champion Dominique Steele makes his octagon debut on short notice July 25th against Zak Cummings at UFC on FOX 16. Steele (13-5) caught up with MMAOddsBreaker on Episode 114 of The Parting Shot Podcast and discussed a variety of topics. Getting the phone call that he was signed to the UFC “I was actually on my couch watching South Park. My manager called me and told me the good news. I was lying down and it actually put me on my feet. I didn’t think I was going to be here until I was about 40.” Going 7-1 after losing three straight in 2012-2013 “[The biggest difference] I would say is weight class. I’ve dieted a little bit better; everyone was a lot bigger than me at [middleweight]. My first loss was David Branch, I was so nervous for that fight. I’m just getting used to everything. I really love ice cream and pizza. But I love fighting a little bit more.” Defeating Chuck O’Neil in his last fight to win the CES 170lb title “I guess people were overlooking me. He was a hometown guy, I already had the disadvantage. I like doing that stuff; I like going into someone else’s place and handling him.” Fighting Zak Cummings in his UFC debut “I see us kind of being a little bit similar if anything. Kind of a clash of the same styles. One style is a little bit more aggressive on top. The other one is a nappy headed fool who just gets his wins however he can.” Making welterweight on short notice “I started training right after I fought [Chuck O’Neil] I needed something to do. I love pizza too much, I’m going to explode back up [if I don’t train] and have “cankles” for a second, I don’t need that. I haven’t really been eating clean, I’ve been eating decently. I’m going to make this weight if I have to cut off my foot off.” Training full time for this fight “If you ever heard of Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, Kmart and Target. Picture them if they all got drunk, had an orgy and out came Minards. I worked at Minards until I got this lovely call [that I had been signed to the UFC]. Then I’ve just been doing this.” Spending his downtime “Usually I’m either reading or writing some bulls**t. I also got South Park Season 16 on DVD so I’ve been watching that a lot. I’ve [also] been reading a lot of Batman. I’ve actually been writing a comic book, it’s basically Planet of The Apes meets the Warriors.” How this fight ends July 25th “This fight ends in a grind. Unanimous decision all me.” Why no Twitter account? “I don’t believe in Witchcraft, I’ve got Facebook, that’s about it.” You follow Dominique on Twitter @TheDomTSteele and he would like to thank Bangtown Fight Wear, Honest Amish, Team Vision, his manager Chuck Wells and his mother. You can listen to the full audio version of this interview on Episode 114 of The Parting Shot Podcast below (50mins in)
