TORONTO | Charles Jourdain (15-6-1, 8 KOs, 5 submissions) is coming home in a sense as he will fight in Canada for the first time since joining the UFC.
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“This is my first time in Canada. I attended the event in Vancouver [l’été dernier] and the Canadian masses are different and wild.”
The 28-year-old fighter from Beloeil definitely wants to leave his followers an interesting calling card.
In his last fight, which took place in Las Vegas last September, he ended in spectacular fashion with a first-round submission victory over Ricardo Ramos.
Hungry
Charles Jourdain claims that, a bit like a wild animal, he has a taste for blood, that hunger for victory that drives fighters.
He further affirms that this allowed him to make progress, even if at times he did not have all the tools at hand.
“I was born with it, I was never particularly good, but I had guts when I was young. I was a two-time TKO champion without having a great strategy.
“With time and experience, I realize how important strategy is. There are some who are good strategists but don’t have that appetite.”
Not very well known
This time the featherweight will face American Sean Woodson (10-1-1, 3 KOs, 1 submission), who was not on the program at the start. Jourdain was originally supposed to face Cub Swanson.
“I know little about him, but once he came up to me on Instagram and invited me to fight with him and I said why not.”
Woodson is a big guy at 1.80m, which is rare in the featherweight division and represents a big challenge for the Quebecer.
“He has a long reach, it's difficult to use fighting techniques well against a guy like him. He is very linear, there are gaps in his boxing but I have to be very careful because he makes mistakes but it is not easy to exploit them.
“We have very good kickboxers in Quebec, it's very difficult to reproduce a guy like Sean Woodson, but it's also difficult to reproduce me.”
Jourdain therefore wants to rely on his speed to win, although he knows full well that Woodson tends to get through to the end of three rounds. He also discovered flaws in his opponent's wall.
“He's not very skilled at takedowns and his wrestling doesn't impress me, that's not his strength.”
Maturity
Jourdain won his last two fights and was able to forget his previous two defeats.
He claims that these setbacks allowed him to grow and achieve maturity.
“I grow with every fight, I was born pretty young at 23, I made some bad decisions and I grew with that. I am very happy with the decisions I have made and what they have brought me.
“A round lasts 5 minutes. If you’re ahead, it might not be worth doing a spinning kick.”