Cage Warriors lightweight James Lynch believes a win at Cage Warriors 155 could see him called up to the UFC.
Lynch takes on Kyle Driscoll on June 2 from the Sycuan Casino Resort in San Diego, California.
The 32-year-old debuted in the promotion in 2021 after a five-year layoff from MMA competition. He has since gone 3-2, now finding himself in a main event slot against Driscoll.
Cage Warriors has provided the UFC with many world champions including Conor McGregor, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, and Michael Bisping. Lynch discussed the promotion’s expansion across the Atlantic as well as his hopes for a UFC call-up in an exclusive interview with Combat Sports UK.
He said: “I really couldn’t be more lucky. At the end of the day, Cage Warriors coming to San Diego, [and] me living in San Diego. There’s a little bit of luck involved.
“When Cage Warriors did their first US promotion, before that I didn’t fight for years. One, I was going to school. And two, when I was training and trying to fight all the time there wasn’t a lot of opportunity so I feel like a lot of my time got wasted.
“So, when they came here I was pretty much fresh off the couch. [I] started training again, got a fight, won the fight.
“And then [I] just kept training and getting more and more fights, next thing you know I’m not too far from making it to the UFC.
“[All I need is] one good performance on June 2. If I put this guy’s lights out in devastating fashion I could get picked up for the UFC, pretty much for Dana White’s Contender Series. But, it’d be nice to get a last-minute call or whatever it may be.”
James Lynch on Working With Chris Leben Ahead of Cage Warriors Bout
Lynch currently trains with former WEC champion Chris Leben out of San Diego.
Leben participated in the first-ever TUF competition under Team Couture and has been a household name within the MMA world since.
Lynch discussed the 42-year-old and his influence on his own game.
He said: “He’s not one of the earliest guys to get into MMA, but I’d say he’s probably the earliest to get into this new generation of MMA.
“So you can imagine, he’s been around and seen everything [including] how it’s developed. Because of that, he’s pretty much seen what’s worked in the past, what hasn’t worked, what things are coming back around again that we’re initially working but people forgot about. I think he has an interesting perspective.
“As far as the day-to-day, you look at Chris he used to have red hair, big scary guy, you would think he’s just rough and tough all the time. But, Chris is probably the most kind, soft-hearted person – more than you would expect.
“Since I’ve been working with him I’ve noticed that my game has gone up tremendously. At my old gym, I feel like we used to go and train, we trained hard but that was it. Since I’ve been with Chris, I’ve noticed that I’ve been developing a lot more technical skill in my game rather than just being tough.
“Working with him has been awesome, his knowledge, his experience, I don’t know where else you can get that.”
James Lynch Full Exclusive Interview
You can watch the full interview with James Lynch below:
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