PFL featherweight Brendan Loughnane is on the cusp of changing his life forever. He’ll face Bubba Jenkins in the featherweight tournament finals this Friday, and with $1 million on the line, Loughnane knows that this is his moment. Loughnane discussed how big this is for himself and his family in a recent interview with The MMA Hour.
“This is $1 million on the line. This is change your family’s life type of [stuff]. People are going to fight their ass off.
Brendan Loughnane Ready for Life Changing PFL Money
Chris Wade was a prime example of how I can negate and deal with wrestlers, and I think Bubba knows that. He knows he’s in for the toughest fight of his life on Friday. I know that with the skill set that I brought to Wade, and what I’ve added in the last eight weeks — I didn’t think it was even possible to raise my ceiling at this age and with this experience, but I’ve raised it again, and I can’t wait to show everyone”.
Although Loughnane has been competing under the PFL banner since 2019, he didn’t make a serious dent in the competition until last year. His semi-final victory over Chris Wade was a major turning point, he says.
“It was extreme pressure – it was the most pressure I’ve ever felt. We had a guy in Chris Wade who did really well in the UFC, gave Islam [Makhachev] his toughest fight in the UFC, and he’s talking all this, he’s been a season finalist, x, y, z, and then he’s coming over and sitting as close as we are saying, ‘I’m going to hold you down and beat you up in front of 6,000 of your friends and family!’ I’m like, s***, if I don’t show up, he will actually do that.
The pressure, when people talk about this pressure, I just had to deal with a hell of a lot of pressure in the semis to even get here, and I pulled out the best performance of my career, or one of them. So I just feel so much more confident coming into this one.”
Loughnane also acknowledged how effective of a fighter his opponent this weekend truly is, but was confident in his own ability to find a finish.“I think I stop Bubba, I really do.
I really think I stop him. I think he’s going to get tired. I keep saying it to him. I really think he’s going to get tired. That ‘three-round fighter’ thing is really hurting him. It’s really playing in his head every time I say it. He’s brought it up in every interview, so there’s got to be some truth to it. I’m a five-round fighter, I always have been. I just think it’s deep water time, and that’s what’s going to happen.”
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