Tag: Tedrick Macklin

Undefeated Tedrick Macklin finally ready to show up on the radar as UFC quest continues

Top prospect Tedrick Macklin is confident his record is deceptive, considering there aren’t even seven minutes of pro tape on him.

Undefeated prospect [autotag]Tedrick Macklin[/autotag] enjoys knowing there isn’t a whole lot of fight tape out there on him.

Four fights into his professional career, Macklin (4-0) has only racked up 6:46 of in-cage competition time. While he’s eager to prove to the world what he already knows in terms of how good he is in all facets of MMA, Macklin also recognizes an advantage to his mysteriousness.

“It’s kind of like fighting a fighter with no fights,” Macklin recently told MMA Junkie. “I always say one of the most dangerous fights you can take is the first fight because you’re going off really nothing. All you really are going off of is where someone trains but you don’t know what they have to offer. Then, you have someone like me. You have full fights of mine, but they’re from so long ago. They’re not showing you anything. I’m probably three to four times as good than I was in any full fights you’ll see of me.”

Macklin, 26, is a point-fighting-based combatant with three submissions and one TKO as a pro. Friday at Fury FC 76, Macklin takes a leap up in competition to fight 17-fight pro Nico Echevarry (12-5) on UFC Fight Pass.

His talent level remains the same regardless, but Macklin knows in order to reach his ultimate goal of the UFC he needs to face better competition than he’s received thus far. While it’s not for lack of agreeing to evener fights, Macklin hasn’t faced an opponent like this before.

“My record is really, really deceptive,” Macklin said. “That’s why I can go against someone like this. I’ve been in point-fighting matches and I’ve been in there with people who have been doing martial arts as long as I’ve been alive. It doesn’t really phase me to fight someone with this type of record while most people who have this kind of record, that might be something that’s in their heads.

“… I know the level I’m at and I know what I can showcase. I think we have the time to build ourselves up, even at the highest level. We’ll take the right fights and climb to the top. I feel like I’m pretty ready. On the regional scene, I can already compete at a very, very high level. I’m looking to show that like I’ve been showing it but even better this time.”

Point-fighting standout Tedrick Macklin analyzes MMA transition, says there’s merit to stigma: ‘You have to be realistic’

Undefeated MMA prospect Tedrick Macklin hears the complaints about his foundation style – and he agrees with many of them.

[autotag]Tedrick Macklin[/autotag] grew up a point-fighter, but that doesn’t mean he wholly disagrees with some of the criticism of the fighting style.

A rising prospect on the Texas regional scene, Macklin (3-0) has trucked every opponent thrown his way over the course of his short professional career. But his combat sports competition started long before MMA.

A taekwondo black belt, Macklin began in the discipline at age 6. He won a state title and eventually competed internationally for the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) in continuous point-fighting.

That’s his background, his foundation, his roots – and Macklin doesn’t mind the “point-fighter” tag. At the same time, he understands the criticism. He’s not a discipline homer. Sometimes, he admitted, aspects don’t work in MMA.

“There are things that you do at the average level of point-fighting that’ll get you hurt in MMA. That’s what I truly do believe,” Macklin recently told MMA Junkie. “The people who have been doing it as long as I have, the lifelong martial artists and the big names like Stephen Thompson and Raymond Daniels and Michael Page, they’ve been doing it their whole lives. Their understanding of distance management is elite.

“If you sleep on them like, ‘They’re trying to just pitter-patter and whatnot,’ and you sleep on their distance, it’s a good way to be put to sleep. I think there’s really a place for it in MMA who really dedicate their time to the right moves that translate well.”

Some point-fighters over-rely on what works in a single discipline and don’t acknowledge what won’t work in a sport with takedowns and clinches. Macklin doesn’t think he’ll fall into that trap, because his venture into MMA stemmed from an acknowledgment he wasn’t competing in a full discipline.

“I started watching Anderson Silva, GSP, Jon Jones, and there was something beautiful about it,” Macklin said. “There was something so exciting and real about it. What I was doing was fun, but MMA was so real.”

Since 2016, Macklin has competed in MMA. His transition hasn’t been perfect, but whose is? One of the big surprises for him during his development is how point-fighting knowledge has translated to unrelated disciplines like wrestling.

“Martial arts, to me, is relative,” Macklin said. “I don’t believe there is anything wrong with point-fighting but you have to be realistic with the type of opponent you’re fighting or the type of style you’re fighting and what you can use. I think point-fighting is also good, even from a wrestling perspective. I’ve had a lot of people tell me my wrestling (isn’t bad). A lot of people are surprised I didn’t wrestle in high school or at a collegiate level. What they don’t understand that was really easy transition to wrestling was my understanding of distance management and blitzing and shooting kind of translated really well.”

Macklin, 26, returns to action Sunday at Fury FC 70 in Edinburg, Texas against Brexton Everett (1-3). After two opponent dropouts, Macklin is just excited to get back in there and take one step closer to locking in a long-term contract with a major promotion.

“I’m open to any good organization if they see the value in me first,” Macklin said. “Let’s play it by ear. I want to go smash these Fury FC lightweights and show they’re good but I’m better. I think there’s a lot to me that people still haven’t seen. I honestly feel I’m the most dangerous upcoming prospect in that aspect.”

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