HAVING FOUGHT TWICE last year at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Joseph Duffy is no stranger to being involved in big occasions with the UFC.
However, the Donegal native will experience the biggest night of his career this Saturday when he competes at Madison Square Garden for his UFC 217 clash with James Vick.
After resolving his contract impasse and signing a new seven-fight deal with the UFC, Duffy (17-2) will hope that a win over Vick (11-1) this weekend can catapult him into the rankings in the lightweight division, where Conor McGregor is the reigning champion.
Having bounced back from his January 2016 loss to Dustin Poirier by comfortably seeing off the challenges of Mitch Clarke and Reza Madadi, Duffy believes he’s ready to make a push towards the 155-pound title picture. His plan is to have a UFC belt around his waist before his new contract expires.
“Within the seven fights, I would like to have the title by then,” he said. “I’d like to have the title halfway through it, to be honest. Within the seven fights I believe I can be there fighting for the title or have the title.”
Ahead of UFC 217, Andy Cowan was present for The42 for Duffy’s media scrum at Tristar gym in Montreal, where the 29-year-old has been based since 2015.
He also discussed the significance of fighting at an iconic venue like Madison Square Garden, his new UFC contract, the challenge he’ll face against James Vick, the prospect of fighting in Ireland, and what should be next for lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
Watch the scrum below…
Featuring three title fights, UFC 217 takes place this Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. BT Sport will air the action live for viewers in Ireland, with the early prelims available via UFC Fight Pass.
Michael Bisping defends his middleweight belt against ex-welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who’s returning from a four-year absence. Former team-mates will collide when bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt puts his title on the line against TJ Dillashaw. Before that, women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk faces Rose Namajunas.
Genuine question to those that know the sport- is Duffy up to the required standard to win a belt?
@Paul P O’Sullivan: Duffy is a quailty fighter great on the ground decent stand up …. but i think the belt is just out of his reach. Hopefully im wrong in saying that would love to see him as champion. Mcgregor vs duffy croke park 2018 be mentel
@Paul P O’Sullivan: Never say never but tis unlikely. He was soundly outclassed by Poirier who, while a good fighter, isn’t a championship fighter either. Duffy has excellent standup and a good offensive ground game but doesn’t have the wrestling to stop high level grapplers who can control him from top. That said love watching him fight and would be happy to be proved wrong. Also shouldn’t have signed a 7 fight contract…way too long.
@Paul P O’Sullivan: doesn’t take much to win a belt. The talent pool is very shallow in mma compared to real sports. In soccer, basketball, boxing, rugby etc the world class generally rise to the top and “upsets” are infrequent among those teams, fighters and players. But MMA is like a bar fight, sure it makes it more unpredictable but anyone can beat anyone really.
@Paul P O’Sullivan: Declan and Graham are pretty accurate. Brian obviously hasn’t the foggiest! He’s very skilled and given the right matchups he can go very far. Wrestling is his one weakness but training in Tristar with the likes of GSP and Rory McDonald will bring that on a lot. Unfortunately for him he is in one of the toughest weight classes so he’ll have to beat some killers to win the belt. There’s a bit of a queue forming at the top of the division so getting to the shot is a challange in itself. Possible but unlikely!
@Des Morrissey: haha nice and defensive there. everything I spoke was the truth. It’s a jack of all trades “sport” and you know it. Anyone can beat anyone on any day and that doesn’t happen more than 2% of the time in any proper sport. Revolving door of champions in all but one division. Shouldn’t happen with “world class” athletes in a proper “sport”. Should be some kind of consistency. I still enjoy watching it sometimes though in fairness. Just saying anyone can become champion.
Can’t wait for UFC 217, it should be a cracker. I’m not too keen on bisping v st Pierre but TJ v Cody should be an absolute cracker all going well, JJ will run through Rose and Masvidal v wonderboy could arguably be the dark horse for fight of the night. Duffy should be too good for James Vick and hopefully he’ll get a big name after this.
Cheers lads
What channel is this on ?