Julian Erosa was hoping to return much sooner than he is at UFC Vegas 89.
Erosa hasn’t fought since last April when he suffered a controversial first-round knockout loss to Fernando Padilla, in a fight many believed was an early stoppage. Since then, Erosa has changed his coaches which is partly why he wanted a bit of time off.
“After my last fight I had talked to my management and I was transitioning over to my main card so management thought it would be a good idea to take a little time off, but I didn’t want to take this time off. It wasn’t taking time off, I just had transitioned 100 percent to Xtreme Couture and having Eric Nisick as my head coach. But, it wasn’t like I was moving states or gyms, even though Eric hasn’t been my head coach the entire time, he has cornered me in the gym, so he has seen me for the last six years. It was a very easy transition,” Erosa said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com.
In his return, Julian Erosa is set to take on Ricardo Ramos at UFC Vegas 89. Entering the scrap, Erosa is on a two-fight losing skid and could be fighting for his job. However, he believes he fights his best when no one expects anything from him, which is the case here.
“I feel like there is less pressure. When you are winning fights and doing well, everyone expects you to do that. After I beat Hakeem, I was on a three-fight winning streak and about to crack the top-15, and people expect you to keep doing that and anything less is a disappointment. After that fight, I had a lot of pressure on my shoulders, but after losing two in a row I think that pressure is gone because they just expect me to lose,” Erosa said.
Along with not feeling pressure, Julian Erosa believes Ricardo Ramos is a good style matchup for him. Erosa believes he can bring Ramos into the deep waters and gas him out which will lead to a stoppage win.
“I want to drag it out as long as possible, I think he has less stamina and less heart than I do. The longer the fight goes, the better it is for me. My last two fights have sucked because they ended before it started for me. If I can get him into the second half of the fight, I think I can see myself getting him in a guillotine like Charles Jourdain did,” Erosa said.
If Erosa gets his hand raised over Ramos at UFC Vegas 89, the American believes he’d be right near the featherweight ranks again. But, his main goal for 2024 is to fight as often as possible.
“If I get a win over Ricardo Ramos it puts me back to where I was before the Caceres fight… I’d love to fight as much as possible,” Erosa said.
