{"id":258345,"date":"2025-11-03T07:31:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T07:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/258345\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T07:31:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T07:31:16","slug":"steve-garcia-explains-why-he-prefers-josh-emmett-fight-over-youssef-zalal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/258345\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Garcia explains why he prefers Josh Emmett fight over Youssef Zalal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Garcia wants the chance to climb the featherweight rankings but he\u2019s also mindful about the right fights to get him where he wants to go.<\/p>\n

In Saturday\u2019s UFC Vegas 110 main event, Garcia scored a dominant first-round finish<\/a> over David Onama to extend his winning streak to seven in a row with six of those coming by knockout. It\u2019s an impressive feat and the win almost assures Garcia of a higher ranked opponent for his next fight.<\/p>\n

While he initially asked for a \u201cBMF\u201d title fight against Max Holloway after his win, Garcia recognized that there are definitely some matchups he\u2019d still like to have at featherweight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one fight that makes a lot of sense is probably Josh Emmett,\u201d Garcia said at the evening\u2019s post-fight press conference<\/a>. \u201cHe has a name on him. He definitely has a higher ranking than I do and I think he\u2019s available so why not? Let\u2019s try to set something up the beginning of next year. I think that would be a fun fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an interesting callout considering Emmett is coming off a loss to Youssef Zalal, who happened to be cornering Onama on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Zalal is higher in the featherweight rankings, but Garcia thinks there\u2019s more to an ideal opponent than just the number next to their name.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll fight Zalal, that\u2019s not the issue,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cThe 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\u2019s no doubt about it. I just fought his teammate. He\u2019s probably already game planning to fight me at some point. If it happens, it happens. I\u2019m not scared of anybody. I\u2019ll go out there and fight whoever. I\u2019ll fight three people in a night. I don\u2019t care. If that\u2019s what they want me to do, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only reason why I say Emmett is because he\u2019s got name recognition, he\u2019s 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\u2019ll probably get back to [ranked No. 11]. I\u2019m not sure. I really don\u2019t know how the rankings are going to play out. But at the end of the day, this is how I support my family. It\u2019s how I make my money. Onama was just on the list.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that ability to make for an exciting fight that appeals most to Garcia, especially as he\u2019s still trying to build his own name recognition among fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think to the fans it\u2019s more exciting to fight an Emmet,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cLet\u2019s have headliners again. Let\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Garcia wants the chance to climb the featherweight rankings but he\u2019s also mindful about the right fights…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-258345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}