UFC veteran Cub Swanson will co-headline the UFC’s upcoming event in Tampa, Florida against Kron Gracie. And because of his opponent’s last name, Swanson says he’s received some backlash from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies.
“I’ve been able to get a lot of jiu-jitsu in because he’s a Gracie, and he has the name. It’s been an interesting one,” Swanson said in a recent episode of UFC Unfiltered (transcript by MMA Junkie). “I’ve been kicked out of a couple of jiu-jitsu schools because of the respect. They don’t want to train somebody that isn’t a Gracie, which really pisses me off.”
Swanson, a black belt under Rigan Machado, already has a strategy in place against a formidable grappler like Kron.
“Fights like this I need to be technical,” he said. “I think I need to not show him any respect when it comes to getting comfortable and just start punching him in the face. I also am a black belt. I’ve gotten criticized for my jiu-jitsu before, but I wasn’t able to always roll with the best of the best grapplers because I was focusing on my striking.”
UFC Tampa is headlined by a strawweight fight between former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Michelle Waterson. It takes place on October 12th at the Amalie Arena.
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