The reason for the question wasn’t to touch on his last fight, a short-notice submission loss to Gabriel Bonfim in February, but to talk about a life that could have gone sideways several years ago, with Williams allowing the streets to get him. But he didn’t allow that. He had his troubles as a young man, but after reaching that crossroads, he took a path that made him a success, not just in the UFC, where he sports a 6-3 record, but in life. He’s never turned back, never let the environment that he grew up in define him. So while we can give him kudos here, it’s more important that he gives himself some, because there are a lot of eyes watching his every move.
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“A lot of kids look up to me as a role model and being a public figure,” said Williams. “I’ve been to juvenile detention centers, I’ve been to high schools, middle schools, elementary schools and different places, just talking to the kids, telling my story. And when you get this opportunity in life, why not give it your all? And I feel like when I was doing that stuff, I was younger; now, I’m a leader. I know who I am now. I don’t got a story like everybody else, but coming up, I didn’t have the guidance that I was looking for. I grew up in the projects. So the people that I saw around me were pretty much hustlers. They had the girls, they had the cars, they had the money, but they wasn’t getting it the right way. So I’m thinking that was the way, but as I got older, its like, okay, you can do whatever you put your mind to. You just got to put your mind to it and do it. Sometimes the route might be a little longer when you are out here living it, but it’s worth it. And that’s really what it was. After a certain age, it clicked. All we got in this life is time, and I’m not about to be doing nothing stupid to put myself in a predicament to where I’m wasting my time being locked up.”
Now he’s here, 31 years old, has won two of his last three, and now about to greet a packed house in Newark’s Prudential Center to face Andreas Gustafsson on Saturday. It’s the third opponent linked with Williams after Uros Medic and Albert Tadevosyan withdrew, but at this point, “The OxFighter” doesn’t care who the face is across from him on fight night, as long as it’s someone.
