Luke Trainer is ready to remind people who he is after a lengthy layoff, and hopes to parlay that into a championship opportunity.<\/p>\n
Trainer returns to action for the first time since September 2024 to face former PFL season champion Rob Wilkinson this Saturday at PFL Dubai. Trainer enters the bout a winner of four straight, and eight of nine, as he makes his first appearance in the PFL SmartCage after a seven-fight run with Bellator.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Gent\u201d was hoping to face a different opponent, but he\u2019s thrilled to face a dangerous and seasoned fighter like Wilkinson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was buzzing,\u201d Trainer told MMA Fighting. \u201cI\u2019ll be honest, it\u2019s not who I asked for, I asked for the Russian cat who lost to Corey Anderson recently, I thought that would be, beat him and that would make the most sense for the title. But Rob Wilkinson was who they gave me, and he\u2019s a former champion, he\u2019s a serious competitor, he\u2019s a serious fighter, he knocks people out, he puts people out. So I was buzzing regardless.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is an even better match up for me, if I\u2019m honest. But I\u2019m ready. I\u2019m ready for a war, I\u2019m ready to smoke him in the first round, I\u2019m ready for it to be a dogfight decision, whatever it is. I feel great, it\u2019s the best I\u2019ve ever felt, and, and I don\u2019t even mean that in a corny, generic way. I genuinely feel like this is the best I\u2019ve ever been, and I am absolutely buzzing for this match up, man.\u201d<\/p>\n
The current PFL light heavyweight champ is Corey Anderson, who captured the inaugural title with a lopsided decision win against Dovlet Yagshimuradov this past October.<\/p>\n
Trainer hopes he\u2019ll stand across from Anderson later this year after returning from injury, but knows he has a tall task in front of him, which is why he has taken his training camp as serious as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been fully focused these last [several] weeks I\u2019ve been in camp,\u201d Trainer explained. \u201cI decided to take 14 weeks to\u2026 in my head, I need 14 weeks to correctly prepare for this, without even knowing who it was, I knew it was going to be someone at the top. So I was preparing as if it was going to be a championship fight, and, yeah, that\u2019s what I mean, I\u2019m 100 percent ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been slaving away in the gym, I\u2019ve been upgrading my skill sets. My cardio\u2019s insane, my athleticism is insane right now. But more importantly, my skill set is different. I\u2019ve got tools now where I didn\u2019t have before. I\u2019m doing things in sparring that I never did before, and yeah, I\u2019m looking forward to putting on a show. I\u2019m looking forward to taking him out and claiming my shot next. I deserve to be next.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the tournament showed that we need someone at the top, we need someone to challenge for the belt, we need someone new. Sullivan Cauley was the newest person to [get to the finals and challenge for the belt], and he lost to \u2018Shoeface.\u2019 I choked him out faster than Shoeface did, so, that\u2019s not me being disrespectful, all respect to Sully, even though I don\u2019t think he likes me very much, all respect to him. But I take out Rob Wilkinson, I\u2019ll do my job, and then I deserve the next shot, whoever that is. So that\u2019s what I\u2019m looking forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trainer was able to use his time off wisely as he and his father have been working with kids in foster care to help provide better lives. That is a passion of his, and has been for years, and believes that his work can provide those children in need with the confidence that they can accomplish anything \u2014 which is why becoming a PFL world champion would be so important.<\/p>\n
Ironically, Trainer, who has the gift of gab, says that inner-belief in himself is something he continues to struggle with. However, he\u2019s decided to build himself up in other ways, which he aims to show to the world when he faces Wilkinson, who looks to snap a two-fight skid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI struggle with self-confidence a lot, so take out self-confidence with self-discipline\u201d Trainer said. \u201cI know I\u2019ve done the work, and I\u2019ve been able to show myself that I am good enough through the work that I\u2019ve done. I haven\u2019t missed a session, I haven\u2019t cheated on my meals, I haven\u2019t cheated on my sleep, on my recovery, on my visualization, on my affirmations, or my prayer. I\u2019ve done everything I need to do. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I could go tomorrow, and in my head, I could absolutely smoke Rob Wilkinson in the first round. I\u2019m hoping he comes with the exact same mentality. I\u2019m hoping this is the best Rob Wilkinson I\u2019ve ever [seen]. I\u2019ve worked my arse off for this and do you know what? If I get knocked out in the first round, I know there\u2019s nothing I could have done better than what I\u2019ve done right now. I\u2019ve done everything my coaches have asked for and then some. I\u2019ve done everything I\u2019ve asked for and then some So if Rob\u2019s the better man on the night, then so be it. It\u2019s out of my hands, you know what I mean?<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I can do is go out there and fight my heart out. So yeah, I\u2019m buzzing, man. It\u2019s the best sport in the world, brother. There\u2019s no feeling like it. Just talking about it gets me super hyped, so yeah, I\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Trainer is ready to remind people who he is after a lengthy layoff, and hopes to parlay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,1863,8417,82],"class_list":["post-458693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-pfl","tag-pfl-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458693","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=458693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}