Zach Makovsky: I have more tools than John Dodson
When Zach Makovsky first began training and competing in mixed martial arts, he was mostly a curious former wrestler looking to see how it felt to get in a real fight. It didn't take long for the former Drexel University wrestling team captain to catch the MMA bug and begin to set new goals for himself in the new sport.
"At the time I started in MMA, I was just kind of very interested in the sport. It was about seeing what a fight was like," he remembered as we spoke with him a little more than a week before his UFC 187 fight against John Dodson.
"I had some early successes, and so at that point, my goal became to do MMA full-time. That was my main goal, and then I kept raising the bar each time I met one. One of my major goals was to one day fight for the UFC, after I began fighting full-time. It is the biggest show there is. Now that I've made it to the UFC, my next goal is to get the belt. That is the ultimate goal -- to be on the top of the pyramid."
Fighting is a tough field of work to be in without love. Makovsky tells us that MMA became a passion for him, right away.
"It was pretty quick," he said.
"I had wrestled my whole life and I really enjoyed competing. I was also into martial arts. In high school I had my Bruce Lee books. MMA came a long at a perfect time for me. It started to grow and get bigger with The Ultimated Fighter around the time I was getting out of college. So, it was the perfect time to jump in and grow my career. Once I started training every day, and competing, I realized the reality of it. That I could be a professional athlete as long as I could maintain a high level of motivation."
That hasn't appeared to be a problem for Makovsky throughout his eight and a half year pro career. Now, the flyweight is likely just a win or two away from a world title fight.
In fact, his opponent this Saturday, Dodson, is the man who gave champion Demetrious Johnson perhaps his toughest title defense. Should Makovsky beat Dodson, he may very well jump to the head of the line to fight "Mighty Mouse" next.
As such, we imagine it must be a bit annoying for "Fun Size" to be counted out, as he mostly has been, heading into the fight with Dodson. Because of how well he did against Johnson in 2013, and because of how he won his two fights afterwards by KO, Dodson has largely been discussed as the inevitable next title challenger.
Makovsky understands the hype, however, and insists that being overlooked doesn't affect him. "No, it doesn't bother me," he claimed.
"I understand it. He definitely gave DJ his toughest fight and before he got injured, he was supposed to fight for the title, again. The division is in need of title challengers. It doesn't really bother me. Talk is talk. We have to fight to figure out who will take the next step forward. I've been training hard to win the fight."
Makovsky knows that he faces a difficult challenge in the speedy and powerful Dodson. The veteran is confident that his well-rounded toolset will serve him well, however.
"Dodson has a lot of very good athletic qualities," he allowed.
"He is very fast. He has big power in his hands. He is good at controlling distance. But, he kind of fights the same way over and over. He doesn't use everything you can use in an MMA fight. What he does, he does extremely well, but I have more tools, overall. I have the larger skill set."
