“I’m never nervous, to be honest,” began Leka. “My whole life, I’ve never been nervous about things that are in my hands. Everything I can do myself, I’m not nervous about it because if you can’t do something, why are you nervous? If you can do something, why are you nervous? There is no space in my head to be nervous.
“The fight — I can’t wait to step in,” he added. “Today I heard weigh-ins will be in the arena, so I can’t wait to smell inside the arena; I can’t wait to come and do all this stuff.”
I mentioned that the one thing that fighters have said threw them off or felt surreal to them the most was being introduced by Bruce Buffer because after years of watching him command the Octagon while dressed to the nines, he’s suddenly standing in front of them, belting out their name.
True to his word, Leka expressed excitement for that moment, not anxiety.
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“I think that is gonna boost me so high — how are you guys gonna get me back down?” he laughed. “As a dreamer — I’m still a kid growing in this sport, and I heard him, listened to him so many times.
“I can’t wait to hear my name.”
As for how things will play out this weekend and how he’ll celebrate earning his first UFC win, Leka prefers to take a more “let’s not tempt fate” position than anything else.
“I know people around me have some plans, but I never (about anything after the fight) because you always go with the mindset that you’re going to leave your life inside of the Octagon,” he said. “I don’t like to ‘poke the god’ — I don’t like to poke him and let him show me that nothing is 100 percent and nothing is for sure. I don’t like to plan things after the fight.
“About the fight, I can tell you I’m gonna get in, lock my vision on Poppeck, and we can be friends before and after, but in this cage, I’m going for everything that belongs to me. And if God gives me health and wisdom, I’m gonna make it, and I’m gonna celebrate huge, but everything after.
“Let’s get it done first.”
