Athletes
Tim Elliott Still Has Tread On The Tires
Veteran Flyweight Vows To Get Back To Title Contention With A Statement Performance At UFC 294: Makhachev vs Volkanovski
Tim Elliott hears the talk. He knows he’s the underdog in his UFC 294 bout against Muhammad Mokaev, a kid 13 years his junior who hasn’t lost in a combined 34 pro and amateur bouts. But in his finest Han Solo fashion, the 37-year-old doesn’t want to know about the odds. He just wants to know that on Saturday, Mokaev will be in the Octagon, ready to fight.
Now you’re in Elliott’s world.
“We talk a little bit of trash back and forth, but it's all good fun,” Elliott said of Saturday’s bout. “And I do better with better opponents like Tagir (Ulanbekov). I wasn't supposed to beat Tagir and that was one of my favorite fights. Demetrius Johnson, I was a thousand-to-one underdog. Nobody thought I was going to be able to compete with him. I struggle with guys who I think that I'm better than. I kind of go to the level of my opponent and as far as skill and technique goes, this kid is better than me. And I like that. I like that because it's not a skills-off. It's not a fashion show. It's not a martial arts competition. It's a f**king fight and it's an ass kicking competition and I can f**king fight.”
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That he can. No one makes it through 18 UFC fights (33 pro bouts overall) without being able to hang at the elite level of the game. That experience is one thing the 23-year-old Mokaev doesn’t have on Elliott. And when it comes to making things…let’s say…a little off center, the Missouri product does it better than anyone.
Tim Elliott Fight Week Interview | UFC 294
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Tim Elliott Fight Week Interview | UFC 294
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“(Former coach) James (Krause) always said, ‘Tim doesn't have rhythm or timing. He has anti-rhythm and anti-timing,’ which really cuts people up whenever they're trying to be rhythmic and have good timing.”
In other words, Elliott zigs when he should zag, goes left when he should go right, and just when an opponent gets a read on him, he turns the book upside down. That’s why he’s won four of his last five bouts and two in a row, placing him as the 10th ranked flyweight in the UFC, one slot ahead of Mokaev. And after a June win over Victor Altamirano marked his first with Chris Brennan’s Next Generation Mixed Martial Arts in Frisco, Texas, the second time around has been even smoother for Elliott, with one exception.
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“The coaches and the team are not an issue at all,” he said. “I really love the coaches, I really love the team and I love what we're doing here. The only discomfort is, is I'm not around my kid. I took my daughter to Vegas, just her and I, when she was a year old, and she'd been in the gym with me, and she's done all my fight camps with me. She usually comes with me when I go to fight, and now this is the first time in her whole life that she's not living with me, and that's been the hardest part on me, really.”
Elliott and eight-year-old Miss Sterling are inseparable even when apart. Of course, that doesn’t make either of them feel any better when dad is away in training camp. But he soldiers on, knowing that, when all’s said and done, this is all for her.
“I always used to say I did this for me because this is something that I really enjoy,” Elliott said. “And, at that time, I wasn't making enough money to really provide for my family. I'm finally in a contract now to where I can make enough money to provide for my family and be comfortable. So as much as it is about the money and about how much I love fighting, it was never really about my kid because my whole life was about my kid. She was always with me. But now with this camp, and me being older and me not being with her for the first time ever, it’s all for her. I have to make sure that the time that I'm spending away from her is coming back in another way. And that other way is financially. That's the only way that it makes any sense for me to keep doing this. It takes too much away from me to be away from my kid unless I'm getting paid and I'm only getting paid if I'm winning. So it's all for her. Everything is for her.”
If that’s not incentive, nothing is, and the results have been coinciding with Elliott’s renewed motivation. And heading into Saturday, he believes he’s got a good shot at getting into the title conversation at 125 pounds.
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“If you look at my last five fights, I'm on a five-fight win streak,” he said. “They said I lost to Matheus Nicolau, but I won that fight. I've watched it a hundred times. There's no scenario where that dude beat me in that fight. So, really, I should be on a five-fight win streak. I feel like if I can beat this kid, that puts me in a good spot to where I can get a rematch with Nicolau, who's number six right now, which is, I don't want to say an easy fight for me, but stylistically, it's a matchup that I know that I can win.”
Then it gets interesting for Elliott, who saw his Ultimate Fighter 23 castmate Alexandre Pantoja recently shake up the division when he took the world title from Brandon Moreno in July. With a new king on the throne, the title picture is wide open, and it’s one Elliott can enter with another win or two. And if he gets there, that would be quite a story for someone who didn’t know if he would get back to the top after losing his first title shot to Demetrious Johnson back in 2016.
So what would life had looked like if Elliott upset “Mighty Mouse” all those years ago?
“I don't know if it would've been good for me, honestly,” he said. “I would like to say that it wouldn’t have got to my head, but I tend to sabotage myself in so many ways and with being a ‘win a couple fights, lose a couple fights’ guy, it's hard to sabotage myself because it's already happened. Had I beat Demetrius Johnson, who knows if I'd even still be fighting. But I feel like if I would've won that title fight then, it would've been too soon.”
And now?
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“I feel like now is the time. If I'm going to win a belt, if I'm going to win a title, now is the time. I'm a little bit more equipped to try to handle my money and my emotions and my family. I don't want to say everything happens for a reason because I don't necessarily believe that, but things tend to work out the way they're supposed to. So, either way, I'm just blessed and happy to still be able to be in this sport and do what I love because there's moments where I've drank and done drugs and been through highs and lows and nobody really thought that I was going to make it this far. I was going to be a success if I'd just stayed out of prison.”
He laughs.
“So the fact that I'm able to do this is, it's an accomplishment in itself, but I feel like I'm not done yet. I still got some tread on these tires.”
UFC 294: Makhachev vs Volkanovski 2 took place live from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE on October 21, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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