Ahead of his match against champion UFC Flyweight champion at UFC 178, Chris Cariaso says that he is ready to show up critics and oddsmakers who have only given him a 6 percent chance of winning the title.
“There’s all the doubters out there,” Cariaso told MMAjunkie. “It makes me mad, but it also fires me up. It makes me want to prove to all these guys that I deserve to be here.”
Fighting since 2006, Cariaso has lived by a strict training regimen that has been designed to keep him at the top of his game.
“I always tell my wife, ‘I’m going to be a champion, and I’m going to coach champions,'” Cariaso said. “That was what I wanted to do. This has kind of been my life’s work, going out there and becoming a champion and to make champions.”
Beating Johnson will not be easy. After all, “Mighty Mouse” is the only flyweight champion in UFC history and has successfully defended the belt four times.
With that said, Cariaso said that he will go by the principles he learned from boxing icon Muhammad Ali.
“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights,” Ali said.
