Steve Garcia feels ‘disrespected’ ahead of UFC Freedom 250

Steve Garcia has a big fight coming up this weekend—and a similarly big chip on his shoulder.

“Mean Machine” (19-5) is set to face two-time former title challenger Diego Lopes (27-8) in the opening bout of UFC White House: Freedom 250 on Sunday at the White House. Heading into the biggest fight of his career, the 34-year-old New Mexico native claimed that he doesn’t receive due credit for the body of work he has put in. Despite riding one of the longest win streaks in the entire division at seven straight—six of them by knockout—Garcia lamented his lack of recognition, telling Ariel Helwani:

“I do still feel disrespected. I do feel like people don’t count me seriously, but I finally get a platform where I can go out there and continue to prove otherwise. I have seven knockouts in the UFC, eight wins… I’ve knocked out several guys, and, bro, I don’t even have a Topps card. Everybody on the White House card pretty much has a Topps card… I got a big chip on my shoulder for everybody doubting me, I’ll tell you that much… it’s not like people are calling me out. There’s a reason for that. I bring it in. It’s gonna be one of the hardest fights you ever fight when I’m in there with you.”

UFC Freedom 250 takes place Sunday, June 14, on the south lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. The seven-fight card is headlined by a lightweight title unification bout between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje, while Alex Pereira and Cityl Gane are scheduled to fight for the interim heavyweight belt in the co-main event.

This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com

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