“The same circle that has been there with me through all the bad times is still there with me in the good times,” he said. “And I noticed in 2023, when I just got signed to the UFC again, I got a lot of attention very quickly and I realized it was just very fickle and I kind of just got caught up in that a little bit. But it’s weird, because the more I’m going towards my goal, the more God is trying to push me in the direction of where I need to go. So, for example, phone calls from certain people to go out and do stuff, those conversations don’t even happen anymore. The only things that come to fruition in my life right now is essentially going to training, coming home, resting, and recovering. I almost feel like it’s just God’s way of clearing the path for me. He’s like, okay, you need to stay on the straight and narrow.”
Staying on the straight and narrow includes long days in the gym with Tom Aspinall and his crew, and plenty of rest to get ready for the next training session. It’s not glamorous, but the sacrifices are paying off, and with a third consecutive win this weekend, Bukauskas could find himself knocking on the door of the Top 15 or bashing down that door.
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“The division’s pretty much wide open and with an impressive win, I’ll definitely be looking at a Top 15 matchup after that. And then I just keep working my way up the ranks. I even looked at it the other day, and Dominick Reyes is now 35. It’s mad because I always thought of him as being the 29, 30-year-old rising star. And obviously now he’s gone on a bit of a tear, but he’s 35. So yeah, in the division, everything just comes and goes very quickly so you’ve got to make the most of it and strike while the iron’s hot. That’s essentially the position where I’m at now. When you’re on a streak, you want to just keep it going and keep it rolling because two, three more fights, you’re looking at a title shot. The division’s very wide open and it’s very exciting, so it just makes me want to work harder and makes me want to go out there and perform because the routeto gold seems a lot more clear.”
The next part of that route begins in Montreal.
