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UFC Fight Island 8 sees the Hawaiian flyweight, Tyson Nam, return to action as he and Matt Schnell finally square off in the second fight on the main card. Nam, who is always looking to put on a show, is ready to get back in the cage. Coming off of his second straight win, a second round finish of Jerome Riveria, Nam is looking to make it three in a row at Fight Island.
The fight with Riveria went his way but it wasn’t without hardship for Tyson Nam. Schnell, his current opponent, pulled out of their fight at UFC Vegas 17 and Nam was forced to adjust to a last minute opponent, a southpaw instead of an orthodox fighter at that.
“It was another last minute replacement that I had to adjust to. Good thing I had my training partners with me were southpaws so they could replicate a southpaw. I actually do a lot better against taller fighters. I don’t know why, maybe I can just swing that right hand over the top and it finds its mark. Leading up to it, another last minute replacement but I think I was able to do the necessary preparations to adjust to a different fighter at the time.”
Now, Nam is ready for Schnell and he thinks the third time will do the trick for the two to finally meet in the cage. He believes this matchup will be dynamite and a fun performance for fans to feast their eyes on.
“Not at all. I always think that things happen for a reason and I’m pretty sure the third time is the charm. We’re looking forward to it. I’m sure that a lot of fans are looking forward to this and obviously the UFC wants this fight to happen.”
Tyson Nam Putting On A Show
Tyson Nam comes into UFC Fight Island 8 to put on a show. He feels like he’s already done this in other promotions, but there’s a little something different with doing it in the UFC.
“Any fight in the UFC is always to boost your notoriety. I feel like I’ve already done it against better fighters internationally. But on the big stage in the UFC, it’s a stamp to put on the market if I can get this KO victory.”
You already know what Nam is coming to do come fight night. He always goes out looking for a finish. He even says it himself. “Always, it’s never a surprise. I’m not going to go out there and submit somebody. You guys know that.”
At the end of 2020, Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno put on a show to close out the year at UFC 256. The flyweight title fight went to a draw and now, Figueiredo and Moreno will have to run it back. Nam is excited what the two did for the flyweight division and thinks it was a long time coming.
“Both are animals. They punched each other stupid that night. That’s why it was considered a very close second fight of the year. The entire year’s been nothing but exciting fights even in this pandemic. Probably more so in this pandemic because everyone’s just cooped up in their house and they want to punch someone in their face. Everyone just came out firing this year. For that to have gone down the way that it was, literally 3 weeks after they just fight, doing it again and putting the performance on that was nothing short of amazing. Especially for the flyweight division. They really let everybody know that we are here and we’re here to put some excitement on top of these cards. We should have been featured fights for a long time. As of now, we have the right group of guys to get all the eyes watching and all the masses cheering.”
As for him, both Figueiredo and Moreno fit perfectly into what Tyson Nam thinks makes a good fight, especially for him. He feels like he would be right at home should he ever meet one of the two in the cage.
“I always love those types of styles. I feel comfortable in the pocket. It almost feels sadistically good to get punched in the face. It kind of wakes me up and makes you feel alive. Only in the cage is when you can do something legal that’s not legal outside of the cage. That is competition at it’s finest. It’s always very exciting when I’m thinking about that.”
With Cobra Kai being all the rage, everyone from wrestlers and boxers are showing off their karate moves. Tyson Nam says he is in the mindset of strike first, strike hard, no mercy.
“I feel like I lean towards to the Cobra Kai style. Good versus evil, evil versus evil, you guys are in store for something really exciting.”
Tyson Nam takes on Matt Schnell at UFC Fight Island 8 on Wednesday. Follow Nam on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to follow his fight journey.
Read our previous interview with Tyson Nam below!
Tyson Nam: The Flyin’ Hawaiian
Tyson Nam returns to action as he takes on Matt Schnell at UFC Vegas 10. In this interview, we speak with Nam about the fight and his ride in the IFC so far.
