TORONTO – Charles Jourdain says there are major financial and career implications attached to his UFC 297 fight vs. Sean Woodson.
Jourdain (15-6-1 MMA, 6-5-1 UFC) will face Woodson (10-1-1 MMA, 4-1-1 UFC) on the Jan. 20 card at Scotiabank Arena in his native Canada, and a victory would put him on a three-fight winning streak in the featherweight division.
That would likely position Jourdain to get someone on the lower end of the 145-pound rankings, and it would come at a good time as his current UFC contract nears its end. Jourdain knows there are two sides to the coin of his looming scenario, however, if he continues to move upward in the pecking order, he said both his compensation from the UFC, as well as his mentality, have to change.
“That will be the third fight on my contract, which will make me at the potential of re-signing,” Jourdain told MMA Junkie at Tuesday’s UFC 297 on-sale press conference. “Coming with the best scenario that I win convincingly against Sean, if I’m fighting for the rankings next, I want a lot more money, more dangerous fighters, and those fighters aren’t only good at fighting, they’re good at winning. I learned that there’s a big difference with that.
“Those guys have a tendency to win a lot more by decisions because they know how to win rounds, and they have strategies how to win, more than strategies how to beat you. So, if I’m fighting these guys, it takes away a little bit of the excitement. A couple of them are super cool to fight, but a couple of them are more there to win, they’re not there to fight. I want my fair share if I fight these guys, because you’re taking a lot of the fun out of fighting for me with these type of guys.”
First things first, however, Jourdain has a stern test in Woodson, who is riding a four-fight winning streak and has lost just once in his MMA career. Jourdain is thankful Woodson accepted the fight and gave him a chance to perform on home soil.
“It’s a good matchup,” Jourdain said. “Sean Woodson’s a tall striker. The matchup is pretty well. There was other names in the bucket, and in the end they said Sean Woodson’s the only one that wants to come to Toronto. The other guys want to do it elsewhere. The venue could be anywhere, I don’t mind, but for this one, the UFC really pushed for me to be here.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.
