Ovince Saint Preux: Winning the belt is bigger than beating Jon Jones
Ovince Saint Preux knew the Herculean task that stood in front of him when he accepted a short notice fight against Jon Jones at UFC 197.
Saint Preux has witnessed Jones run roughshod over virtually every light heavyweight contender in the division over the past few years.
Fighting Jones with three months to prepare still hasn't been enough for anyone in the past, much less Saint Preux having three weeks to get ready.
So why take such a dangerous fight?
"I don't have anything to lose," Saint Preux told FOX Sports. "The opportunity was presented to me and that opportunity is a blessing. I'm going to maximize every opportunity and situation and I'm going to keep a smile across my face.
"On Saturday night, I'll go in and have the best fight of my life and have my hand raised again."
Part of the reason this fight was so enticing was the offer to compete for the interim light heavyweight title while current champion Daniel Cormier is injured.
Saint Preux has wanted to win UFC gold ever since he got into this sport and the chance to fight Jones even on three weeks notice was too great an opportunity to pass up.
If Saint Preux wins, he would become the first person to ever legitimately defeat Jones during his career and that would be a huge accomplishment for any fighter.
Still, Saint Preux is all about the title and that actually trumps the magnitude of handing Jones his first real defeat.
"For me at the end of the day the goal is to be the champ and to be the champ you've got to have the belt. So for me, it's having the belt," Saint Preux said.
As much as Jones has seemed like the unsolvable puzzle during his career, Saint Preux says everybody has a weak spot -- even the greatest fighters to ever step inside the Octagon.
Saint Preux knows Jones isn't invincible and when coupled with his own incredible toughness, the Tennessee native feels like a win on Saturday night isn't just a possibility.
It's a certainty.
"That's the thing, different fighters present themselves in different ways and I know how I'm going to present myself in this fight. I'm going to present myself as a guy who won't ever lay down. You can hit me with a sledgehammer and I'm going to get back up again," Saint Preux said.
"There's always a way to fight somebody. He makes guys fight the way he wants to fight. I'm going to make him fight the way I want to fight. That's the biggest thing. It's just one of those things where I know it's the biggest fight of my career and I'm going to do whatever I need to do to win. I'm going to scratch, claw, whatever I've got to do to win."
