IRVINE, Calif. – [autotag]Roman Kopylov[/autotag] is one of the biggest betting underdogs Saturday, but that’s not stopping him from being ambitious.
Kopylov (12-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) is set to open the UFC 298 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) main card in a middleweight bout against Anthony Hernandez (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Hernandez is around a -250 favorite, which says plenty about his reputation given Kopylov has four straight wins, all by knockout.
But Kopylov appears to be brimming with confidence, which jibes with the mindset of a fighter who took the bout with Hernandez as a short-notice fill-in on about a month’s notice.
The 32-year-old Russian said he plans to take out Hernandez, then former champion Sean Strickland. If that leads to title consideration, he’s not too sure current champ Dricus du Plessis will be there, though.
“Middleweight is one of the toughest divisions. This is a great division. Everybody is pretty tough in here,” Kopylov told MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s media day for UFC 298. “When it comes to the champion, anybody in the top five could become a champ soon. I’m not sure what to say about the champion – for some reason I have a feeling he’s not going to stay a champ for a very long time.”
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A Strickland matchup, though, is one he thinks could come to fruition with a win simply because the former champ would be forced to see Kopylov as a new title contender and in a new light he hadn’t viewed him in before.
“If the win does happen on Saturday, I think Sean himself would be interested in fighting against somebody like myself, who’s a striker, and I think it would be a really great fight for the fans. I think Sean will look at it more seriously that way,” Kopylov said.
Check out Kopylov’s full media day interview in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.