Modestas Bukauskas On UFC 315 Fight vs Cutelaba, Benefits Of Training With Tom Aspinall & Star Wars

Kicking back with me for the second time, Modestus Bukauskas! You are fighting Ion Cutelaba at UFC 315, so that's going to just be a bananas fight! And you already are riding off great momentum: You guys both just fought in February. So how good does this feel for you to be back in action this quickly?

Oh, it's absolutely amazing. After the last fight, my manager was asking me, “so when do you want to fight next?” He said, “how does May-June sound?” I said that's perfect. And then I saw that Ion was fighting Aslan and I thought the winner of that would be a good matchup. And I actually called for it pretty much on the post-fight interviews afterwards. As soon as I got home, about three days later, my manager goes, “so...what about the fight with Ion Cutelaba?”

I'm like, "all right, I guess we're on it straight away.” So it's actually perfect. It couldn't have happened any better. Both of us got big wins. Both of us have got momentum. Why not make the fight? And on a massive card as well, so it worked out perfectly.

Yeah, it is an excellent card. And for those who don't know, you fought Cirqueira that night and you got a knockout… it was pretty quick too. And you had said in the interview we did beforehand, that you, “want to really show myself the second time around here. I really want to put it out there and show how dynamic I am.” So did you feel that you were successful in doing that that night?

Oh yeah, a hundred percent. I definitely came out a lot more aggressive. I knew I had to be, to be fair. Cirqueira didn't really like being on the back foot too much, so I knew I had to put it on him. Obviously, he's still very dangerous, so I expected him to come out with some big shots, and he caught me with a couple of shots here and there, but ultimately, I felt very comfortable in there. I was a lot more nervous before that fight, weirdly enough, but I think that nerves gave me that extra energy, that extra warrior spirit that I needed. So it all worked out well.

Looking back, what do you think the extra nerves were? Just how important you had made this fight and what you wanted to do?

Yeah, exactly. I don't even like to call it pressure. I just said to myself, “I know I need to go out there and show myself.” And I wanted to go out there and get the finish. So I think actually putting the pressure on myself a little bit more made me a little bit more calculated in my attacks. It just made me more sharp in areas. So... I'm thankful that I did feel that way because it meant that I was able to go out there and do that.

Well, here's the thing with, Ion Cutelaba, bit of a beast. In the past was known for coming out kind of wild. He was “kill or be killed.”Aan Ion fight could last all of the rounds, or it could last thirty seconds. But in his time in the UFC, he has matured. He is smarter about his fighting style now. He's still incredibly exciting and aggressive, but it's more measured now. What do you make of the approach, especially since you got to scout him out in person that same night that you fought?

He's still very explosive, very energetic with his attacks. Throws some big overhands and he mixes everything up really well. He uses his wrestling, clearly as you saw from his last fight. He uses his ground game as well. So, it's just…how do you control that energy? How do you sort of dim his light in a way? How do you put out the fire? That's essentially what I've been working on. So, although I know he's coming in a lot more measured, I understand also that he can turn up at any second. So I've definitely prepared myself for that.

And what are you hoping to get out of it? Obviously, you're hoping to get another win. He’s a guy that's been around for a long time, has had number next to his name. Are you hoping this is what's going to help break you into the rankings?

One hundred percent. That's that's pretty much exactly what the plan is. I need to go out there and put on an impressive performance. This is amazing that the UFC have asked me to be on a pay-per-view card in another country, a place I haven't been before, in front of a crowd… Absolutely amazing. So, yeah, I'll go out and put on an amazing performance. They can't deny me a top fifteen matchup.

What do you make of your potential for movement in the division? Obviously there's some changing at the top of it. There's some new talent in there.There's still some old guys hanging around… So what do you make of the potential movement over the course of maybe the next year or so?

The thing is in the light heavyweight division, you can progress very quickly. You have one impressive win here, you could jump up another couple of spots, another couple of spots here and there. And then, making the right call outs at the right time and stuff like this. It's all part of the game. To me, whatever makes sense at the time, that's the route that I'll go down. I have my path laid out in my head, but ultimately, I have to go out and do the job on Saturday for everything to come into fruition. It's amazing that things can happen very quickly. All you've got to do is go and do the job, and then next thing you know, things can turn around very quickly.

To your point there about a fast turnaround in terms of getting booked for something again: Now you're on a pay-per-view somewhere you haven't been. And maybe this is something that you recognize because you do have some perspective of having been in the UFC before. Now you're picking up little signs and symbols that this is good: is that what's happening? That you're starting to see that this time around is going better?

Oh yeah, definitely, I'm definitely not coming off of loss after loss now! Now it's more turned the other direction, I just feel like I've probably just matured, and some people mature at different times, and unfortunately for me, it had to happen a little bit later. I was still pretty much a boy in terms of me and my fighting, my skill set, and my mindset. The overall growth that I've had is leading to this run. And like I say, long may it continue.

Last time you did do some work with Tom Aspinall, is that something that you did again for this camp?

Yeah, one hundred percent.Tom's my boy. It's amazing training with him and his team. We've got a really good group of massive guys. I mentioned it to you before, it’s just like the land of the Giants! It's like Jack and the Beanstalk and I'm Jack.

If you're the little guy, that to me is crazy!

Yeah exactly! A six foot three dude, about two hundred, two hundred fifty… and Tom's even bigger than that! Six five, maybe two fifty… It's crazy but it’s just been helping me out so much with my training to get different looks. Obviously, Tom always stays in shape. All of the other guys up there are always staying in shape. James, Simeon as well. Simeon, who just fought recently, absolutely smashed it in his fight in the PFL. So he's been helping as well. We've got a really good group. And consistently, the vibes and the energy in the room is amazing. Everyone's competing against each other. So consistently, I'm just getting amazing training. I'm very thankful for that.

I love that. And also what I really like about the idea of you training with Tom and his father's whole camp is that not only are they in physical shape, but you can tell that they're taking the mental approach to this game really, seriously as well. Everything that Tom's going through: Is he fighting Jon? Is he not going to fight Jon? Is he doing this? Is he not doing that? Just the fact that he has stayed consistently cool and chill and just doing what he needs to do… I really respect that.

He is a professional. When it comes to the word professional, he is a true advocate of that. He's eating right. He's making sure he’s getting the right amount of sleep. He's doing all the training sessions appropriately. And he's just trying to better himself every single day. And that's exactly what a professional should do. Especially in a sport like this, he wants to continue to keep growing. So whenever the call does come, he'll be ready. He's not standing still. He's always trying to up his levels. And like I say, I look up to that a lot.

And I would imagine for you, having a whole room full of big guys like that is killer. When you know that you're training with somebody at that high of a level, and let's say you have a good day that day, you're like, “all right, yeah, I think I did choose the right career!” It's great to be a big fish in a little pond. But when you're in a gym with a lot of talent, it's a really great thing for your mentality, I would think.

Oh, yeah, one hundred percent. But the thing that I've learned is in in the training room, you’re just there to try and improve. Obviously you want to try and be sharper, and you can always see towards the end of a camp all the fighters are usually very sharp. They’re doing all the things that they're supposed to be doing, that they're firing all the shots that they need to be doing. But ultimately when we’re in the training room we're always just trying to improve, there's no egos involved. We're trying to compete with each other because obviously we want to get the most out of ourselves; but we're just trying to get ourselves to the highest level of our skillset possible and just work on new things and get better. And that's why it works so well. Because a lot of people out there are trying to prove themselves, and we don't need to prove anything to anyone.

Do you feel collectively too that you guys are trying to work even harder to make sure everybody recognizes how good the talent in England is?

Oh, yeah. There's so many names out here. England, we'd be showing up! Letting the world know. For me, it's just amazing seeing all the other athletes from England all doing absolutely amazing performances, all killing it in their own different ways. I mean, look at Sam Paterson. He literally lives about twenty minutes away from me and he’s doing amazing on the big stage as well. It's just a sign of more things to come. We're building up the talent in our country and      people are just continuing to get better. England is now finally able to compete with the best in the world.

I was a little bit bummed in hindsight: I should have talked to you yesterday on May the fourth! Because the last time we talked about your Mace Windu vibe, and you talked about the purple lightsaber. We talked about joining the good and the bad sides of you together, which I think was just such a great analogy. Did you do anything on May the fourth, Modestus? 

The only thing I got was a photo actually, which I cropped out from from my management's page. It said may the fourth be with you with a red lightsaber, so I just posted that on my page. I’ll have to do a little bit of a late post to be honest with you because I didn't catch it in time. But now, especially when I'm here in fight week, the Star Wars analogies are ringing through my head.

Before I let you go: I don't know if it's still the case, Modestus, but I remember a long time ago, Montreal was known as one of the places with the most strip clubs!

I haven't been to any yet!

I don't know if your dad's coming again. I don't know if your dad and your mom are still together… But I'm just saying- for your crew and everything- famously, it used to have the most strip clubs or something like that. So be careful in Montreal!

It looks like the after party is going to be lit!

Sometimes I ask if you have a prediction for a fight, or the way you want to finish it… Against Cirqueira there were certain things you wanted to do. You proved it, and I think you even stuck the landing on your backflip after! So this time out are there personal goals within the fight - win or lose - that you want to do? What what's your  approach to this one in terms of the big picture?

The goal is just to let out more of myself, to show out all my skill sets, just to be confident. Go out there, have fun, and bring the energy. For me, obviously, the goal is to go out there and finish him. Me and Ion are both very explosive fighters. We're both very aggressive and we're both looking for it, so that’s exactly what I'm going in there to go and do. I’m going in there to finish, I’m not going in there just to try and get a points decision. I just know for the fans this is going to be a hell of a barn burner of a fight, and that everyone will be literally on the edge of their seats! I’m looking forward to going out there and just letting it all unfold. You’ve got to embrace the madness, embrace the chaos and that's what I'm looking to go and do.

Excellent. I think it's going to be a great fight as well. At light heavyweight there's room for movement and there's room for exciting guys. As we know, the Champ has been criticized before for his style. A guy like Alex was more explosive. I'm not critiquing Ankalaev because I'm not the one in there fighting him! But if you can bring a more exciting style and finish people you could move up pretty quickly I would think.

Oh, one hundred percent. And like I say, I've just got it all visualized in my head. And now I just got to put it out into reality. And I'm looking forward to it. You can't not be excited when all these things are going on. And the way the way I picture it in my head I'm just ready to go out there and do my thing. Another amazing city, in front of a big crowd. I'm ready to go out there and do my thing.

Awesome. Thank you for kicking back with me. It's been nice getting to know you and if you can just keep it up, the future's bright. Second round in the UFC is definitely the one that’s working for you!

Thank you so much, Karyn. It's always an absolute pleasure talking to you. Thank you for bringing me good vibes and good energy also. I appreciate you. Get ready for a show, Karyn. Get ready for a show!