David Michaud (right) had a strong showing in his debut against Jingliang despite fighting at an elevated weight class. Photo courtesy Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
Michaud entering ‘biggest fight of career’
By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News Managing Editor PHOENIX, Ariz. — Pine Ridge’s David “Bull Dawg” Michaud is not accustomed to losing back to back fights and thus far in his career he has avoided doing so. For the first time as a professional however, Michaud, will fight to stave off that reality as he enters the UFC cage for the second time next month. Prior to his last fight Michaud (7-1) was called upon by the UFC to take a fight on short notice against Chinese prospect Jingliang Li. This time however, Michaud feels that the situation is right for a big time performance and will have a full fight camp to prepare for his next opponent: Garrett Whitley (7-2). “We started ramping it up last week. We are 8 weeks out right now and I am starting to dial in my conditioning and get my weight down,” said Michaud. Michaud has been in Phoenix for the last month training at one of the world’s top MMA schools: The Lab. During this time Michaud has focused on improving specific aspects of his fight game in the hope that a victory in December will elevate his career and put him on a path towards a title one day. This week Michaud will open his official 8 week training camp alongside training partners former UFC champion Benson Henderson as well as UFC veteran Joe Riggs and several other UFC vets. Several teammates of Michaud from The Lab will be on the same fight card in December “After my last camp down here I hadn’t trained every day like I had a fight coming up. I learned a whole lot while I was here but there is a different mindset that a fighter has when they have someone lined up to prepare for,” said Michaud. When asked about the pressure of fighting under the premise that a poor performance could impact whether or not Michaud stays in the UFC the 155lb Oglala Lakota shrugs it off. “I don’t think too much about that stuff and every fight is the biggest fight of your career when you make it to this level. So this is the biggest fight of my career,” said Michaud. “My mindset is pretty much just go out there and get the win. It doesn’t matter if there is pressure that you put on yourself or pressure that others try to put on me. I still have to get in the cage and I gotta get in a fist fight.” Michaud is coming off the first loss of his professional mixed martial artist career after dropping a tightly contested three round decision to Chinese prospect Jingliang Li in both fighters UFC debut. Michaud would take the fight on short notice after Jingliang’s original opponent dropped out due to injury. The two would fight at a weight limit of 170 pounds, a full weight class higher than what Michaud, who is a natural 155 pounder, is engineered to fight at. “I should have used my grappling more in that fight but that is also the hardest part of the sport and your conditioning has to be there so you can go 15 minutes of striking or grappling without rest. I didn’t feel like my conditioning was where it needed to be but a full camp will help me prepare better for this fight.” Michaud showed signs of his dominant wrestling skills in the fight with Jingliang throughout the contest. In the first round Michaud would complete one of his signature slams after securing a side body lock that enabled Michaud to seize upon the leverage he created. Michaud would show signs of fatigue as the fight progressed and ended up finishing multiple rounds on his back something that he hopes to avoid in this upcoming fight. Standing in the way of Michaud is a Garrett Whitley, a striker with a record of 7-2 overall and 0-2 record in the UFC. The two fighters may well be fighting for their UFC careers when they enter the cage in Phoenix on the undercard to UFC on Fox 13 that will feature a heavyweight main event between Junior Dos Santos and Stipe Miocic. (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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