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Friday, Mar 14, 2014

UFC 171: Justin Scoggins Says ATT “Crazy, Awesome Environment”, Prospect Plans to “Beat Up” Will Campuzano, Have a “Good Night”

Scoggins (photo via Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images)

By Kelsey Mowatt

Justin Scoggins may be one of the youngest fighters on the UFC roster, and has gone undefeated to date, but the flyweight prospect clearly understands the importance of training with the best of the best. The 21 year-old once again prepared for his UFC 171 bout Saturday with the world renowned American Top Team, and Scoggins has no doubt that he’ll be ready for what Will Campuzano brings as a result.

“Oh man, we’ve got everybody here; the whole stable of UFC fighters,” Scoggins said on Full Contact Fighter Radio recently, while discussing his training camp for UFC 171. “We’ve got killers from 18 years old all the way up to veterans like Brad Pickett, who I actually did my whole fight camp with.”

“It’s amazing being in the gym with the caliber of talent we have”, furthered Scoggins, who made his UFC debut in December and stopped Richie Vaculik to run his pro record to 8-0. “There’s guys to push you each and every day and just making each other better man. It’s a crazy awesome environment, and I always say to everybody that you’re a product of your environment, and I’ve placed myself in a super good environment with really good people and really good training partners.”

Scoggins began training in martial arts at the young age of three, and as he also relayed to Full Contact Fighter recently, MMA has long been “the goal in mind” for the Kenpo Karate black belt. As a result, Scoggins is no stranger to training with top tier fighters, despite the fact he’s yet to hit 22.

“I was bouncing around a few different gyms when I was first starting my pro career, after I switched over to pro from amateur,” Scoggins recalled. “I went to Jackson’s, I did a camp out there, actually Greg (Jackson) and Master (Ricardo) Liborio they’re really tight, so, I was out there at Jackson’s for a little bit, it was really cool.”

Scoggins (photo via UFC.com)

 

“I ended up coming to Florida because my manager, Monte Cox, he sent me out here,” Scoggins furthered. “As soon as I got here the people and all the training we have here, I fell in love with it. It also doesn’t hurt that the weather down here is beautiful all the time. It’s kind of perfect down here; you get a good mix of all the hard work, but you also kind of have a heaven to go to down here.”

In Campuzano, Scoggins will face a veteran fighter who made his UFC debut when the ATT member was still competing as an amateur. After exiting from the UFC in 2011, Campuzano secured another run in the promotion by winning five straight fights, which included a decision win over Japanese vet Hideo Tokoro. Most recently, the 27 year-old flyweight was handed a decision loss by Sergio Pettis at UFC 167.

“Will’s a tough guy man,” said Scoggins, when asked to assess the abilities of his next opponent. “Like you said he’s a veteran; I’m not really concerned about too much, because my coaches always put me in the best situation to win, they always make sure that I’m working on the right stuff…I have nothing but confidence going into the fights.”

“But Will has the experience, he’s fought big fights, he’s fought big names,” added Scoggins, who also noted he believes Campuzano will try to take him down. “He’s been on this big stage a bunch of times. People can expect two tough guys getting in there, but at the end of the day, I know for a fact I’m going to come out of there with my hand raised, and that I’m going to go in there, going to beat him up and it’s going to be a good night.”

UFC 171 will be hosted by the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas, and will feature Johny Hendricks battling Robbie Lawler for the vacant welterweight title.

 

posted by FCF Staff @ 10:43 am
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