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Julien Leblanc battles Gilbert Urbina on October 17th at UFC Edmonton on MMA Canada. With a second child born in mid-June, Leblanc is additionally emboldened to compete on Canadian soil once again. While his Winnipeg-based UFC debut did not pan out, there remains the placement on a stacked card in the great fight north. Touching on those pieces of this sophomore octagon walk, Leblanc said [via MMA Canada],
“Yeah, we’re a bunch of great Canadian on that cards and and I feel like it’s a blessing. Like regardless where the fight is, it’s a blessing to fight in the UFC. That’s what I’ve worked all my life. My debut was s**t. So, unfortunately, didn’t go as planned. Hats off to Robert, he blew my knee out with that first leg kick. Yeah, man. He I saw also like the the speed of the UFC, the the level. I always knew like the level, but you you you always think you know it until you really in that cage, right? When it’s time for real.”
“Sparring is sparring. But fighting for real is completely different. So, no, I’m grateful that I had the chance to experience it, regardless that it didn’t go my way. Once again I’m blessed that I’m able to fight in the UFC and, people count me out all my life. So, it’s nothing different here. I think I’ll be once again the underdog, probably a bigger underdog because of that really bad UFC debut. So, it’s been like this all my life, man. Once again, I don’t look at that. I just look at where I am today.”
“I’m really, really happy of like from where I’ve come and where I’ve ended up in the biggest promotion in the world. So, every fight that I’ll get to fight in the UFC it will be a blessing and that’s it. I’m really, really happy and grateful that I have the chance to fight for them.”
UFC Edmonton
While his UFC debut effort against Robert Valentin disappointed him, there are ample lessons to be taken for this second trek with the promotion, as Leblanc stated [via MMA Canada],
“So we’re in fighting, right? So, I know every guy will try to kill you, but now we’re fighting for big money. We’re fighting for big bonuses. In the regional scene some guys they’re fighting not a lot. I don’t know like the motivation is different for some guys. For sure everyone tries to to kill each other but I just feel like it’s more to do it for the sport when you’re on the regional scene. But when you’re in the UFC it’s like they will kill you if they can you know what I mean?”
“So, like I said we’re fighting for big bonuses big money everyone wants to make that money everyone needs it it’s it’s her career. We do this for a living. So, I just like I knew it from the the get-go, but I mean like you won’t make no friends in the UFC. I’ve always been like a nice kind guy, but it’s time I turn into a killer and you know, a little bit of like f**k you all. Sorry for my language, but just like got to be selfish and got to be the killer from right the first second of the fight.”
“Because that’s how they think and that’s how they fight, those guys. So I think it’s just; yeah, man, I just saw saw that like in my first fight that yeah you know like Robert wanted to kill me and he he took advantage like he saw it like he saw my face in the on that first kick and once again like it looked like I was like scared or I don’t know like because some people after were like ‘oh, man you looked scared’ like get your knee blown out with a leg kick and you never think that will happen.”
“Once again it’s no excuse it’s no excuse. Like a lot of guys they they fight through like look Carlos Fullberg like blew his knee and still knocked out Jiri, right? But it’s like that killer instinct went away for a second when that kick hit and that knee like because I really; it was the first time I was feeling something like that, you know? It’s hard to explain, but once again, it’s no excuse. Trust me. Like I’ve never went public about that after a fight or like having excuse.”
“No, I’m not like this. I’m just saying that the moment I hesitated in my head, it’s the moment Robert really like came at me. Like I remember his face and he saw it. When you look at the video, he saw it. He kicked back. He kicked back and then took me down. But even on the take down, I looked like I had zero takedown defense. Like I really like choked mentally on that moment and I was not able to recover from it.”
“Robert was really fast and he finished me. So that’s it, man. That’s what I saw. So, it’s regardless what happens in that fight, man, you got to be in that killer instinct mode all the time. Like if you’re injured, if you’re not injured, like if he’s injured, you just got to never let that killer instinct go. You got to be able to to go out on your shield. Like you got to think that you’re on the the the I don’t know.”
“Sorry, my [English] is not good, but like on the the World War II when they they went to Normandy and they to fight the Germans, like those guys, man. It’s like, bro, you get your arm cut off or your leg or whatever. You keep on fighting, it’s for your life. So, it’s really you’re fighting for your life in that cage and that’s it. That’s the approach I need to have my my next fights.”
With MMA being such a momentum-driven sport whereby you can vault your career to unforeseen heights off the backing of even a singular spectacular win, Leblanc quipped [via MMA Canada],
“Oh 100%. You just said it like everything changes so fast, everything changes so fast in that game. You have one win, like look, man, I lost so many sponsors because of that performance. People that were with me since three years, now they don’t even text. Like when they saw my next fight announced, they didn’t even text me or nothing. They used to sponsor me every fight and they wanted to be there. When I got signed they did a big, big press conference.”
“Like the real ones are still there but I mean like this is the game we’re in but then I’m going to win my next fight and they’re all going to be back. But I’m not saying this to hate on them. It’s just like I already knew that it was like this in the sport. Just to say that everything can change so fast. Like you think you end the year on a bad note, then you win, you get the bonus or boom and then you’re on on cloud nine again. So it’s like it’s really a roller coaster of a sport.”
“But that what’s makes makes it so cool and so thrilling at the same time. Like I just know that it’s never over until it’s over. So the same thing in a fight, right? You can get injured or whatever. I could have react better and try to, I don’t know. I could have react better and maybe do a better fight. Unfortunately, didn’t happen. Now we turn the page and we move forward. That’s it. That’s all. You know what I mean?”
Touching on how some might perceive him as an even bigger underdog this time out considering the caliber of his opponent, Leblanc said [via MMA Canada],
“Oh, for sure. I mean I respect Gilbert. He’s a dog. He goes out there to fight. He’s not scared at all. So he’s another guy that will come at me right from the bat and he’s going to try to kill me. So I’m going to try to kill him, too. I think it’s going to be a good match up. We’re both very good strikers, long strikers. He just had an amazing performance against Vasco [sp??] and his last fight, his debut at middleweight. You can see he’s bigger.”
“He looks stronger, too. It looks like he’s more at his weight class than at ’70. So, no, I’m looking forward for it. I know I’m going to have a very good and tough opponent. At the end of the day, all those guys in the UFC, man, it’s the highest level. They’re all well-rounded. They all know how to grapple. They all know how to strike. So, it’s going to be a fun one for sure.”
Delving into if Urbina was someone who has been on his radar for a long time now, Leblanc stated [via MMA Canada],
“Oh yeah, for sure. I’ve been studying him and I was actually offered the [Vlasto] Cepo fight before him. But I had to have surgery. Like it was not a big surgery but a minor surgery to my knee after the last fight. So thank God like it was not a big one. They managed to save like a lot of the knee. So, thank God I got a good team. Thanks to the UFC too, that took care of it right away. But yeah, so I was offered Cepo fight.”
“Unfortunately, they had to say no because I was getting surgery. But yeah, I looked the fight. I didn’t know I was going to fight Gilbert after, but I looked the fight and I was rooting for him, being a massive underdog. I was rooting for Gilbert. So man, once again, hats off to him. I don’t know. He got the bonus, too. So, I’m sure it’s good for his family. Yeah, man. But now it’s my turn. It’s my time and that’s it.”
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