Steve Garcia wants the chance to climb the featherweight rankings but he’s also mindful about the right fights to get him where he wants to go.
In Saturday’s UFC Vegas 110 main event, Garcia scored a dominant first-round finish over David Onama to extend his winning streak to seven in a row with six of those coming by knockout. It’s an impressive feat and the win almost assures Garcia of a higher ranked opponent for his next fight.
While he initially asked for a “BMF” title fight against Max Holloway after his win, Garcia recognized that there are definitely some matchups he’d still like to have at featherweight.
“I think one fight that makes a lot of sense is probably Josh Emmett,” Garcia said at the evening’s post-fight press conference. “He has a name on him. He definitely has a higher ranking than I do and I think he’s available so why not? Let’s try to set something up the beginning of next year. I think that would be a fun fight.”
It’s an interesting callout considering Emmett is coming off a loss to Youssef Zalal, who happened to be cornering Onama on Saturday night.
Zalal is higher in the featherweight rankings, but Garcia thinks there’s more to an ideal opponent than just the number next to their name.
“I’ll fight Zalal, that’s not the issue,” Garcia said. “The whole thing is name recognition. I know Zalal just beat Emmett. Did a fantastic job of that but I still feel that Emmett may have a little bit more name value than maybe Zalal. Me and Zalal will probably cross paths. There’s no doubt about it. I just fought his teammate. He’s probably already game planning to fight me at some point. If it happens, it happens. I’m not scared of anybody. I’ll go out there and fight whoever. I’ll fight three people in a night. I don’t care. If that’s what they want me to do, that’s what I’ll do.
“The only reason why I say Emmett is because he’s got name recognition, he’s obviously further down the rankings than me so in my head, I want my opportunities. I just fought someone behind me. I felt like I just gave someone a moment. What does that do for me? I’ll probably get back to [ranked No. 11]. I’m not sure. I really don’t know how the rankings are going to play out. But at the end of the day, this is how I support my family. It’s how I make my money. Onama was just on the list.”
While Emmett is coming off back-to-back losses, his biggest wins have usually come via highlight-reel knockouts including his fight against Bryce Mitchell, which provided one of the scariest finishes in recent UFC history.
It’s that ability to make for an exciting fight that appeals most to Garcia, especially as he’s still trying to build his own name recognition among fans.
“I think to the fans it’s more exciting to fight an Emmet,” Garcia said. “Let’s have headliners again. Let’s go Emmett vs. Garcia instead of [Garcia] vs. Zalal. I think I might be able to sell a little bit more with Emmett than I do against Zalal.
“Not to take anything away from him. I respect that guy but at the end of the day this is about trying to elevate my career.”
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