In 2017 Stuart ‘He-Man’ Austin is looking to become the master of the light heavyweight universe as he plans his assault on not just the European scene but beyond.
After a successful debut in the 205lbs division last October when he defeated Dutchman Nills Van Noord at EuroFC 1, Austin (11-3) is now even more confident that he can make a splash in his new division.
“I knew I would beat him [Van Noord] to be honest I just felt at light heavyweight I was be to big, to strong and to skilful for him and I think it showed in my performance. Despite competing at heavyweight for the majority of my career I found the cut in the lead up to the fight pretty easy and when he saw me on fight night I think he was surprised just how big I was after my cut. That combined with my skill set is the reason why I was able to take him out in under 3-minutes.”
The experience of competing under the upstart promotions banner was nothing but a positive one for the man nicknamed “He-Man” with him heaping praises on the organisation headed up by co-founder and CEO Jarno Kukila and matchmaker Tim Leidecker.
“My experience there was absolutely brilliant. From an organisational and professional perspective its easily the best show I’ve been on and that includes fighting out in the United States. They made everything easy for me and the other fighters. Everything from being picked up at the airport to providing us with a chef who would prepare whatever food we needed to help us with our weight cut which for my first big weight cut was really helpful.”
“During the whole week everything ran smoothly and if things did go wrong myself or the other fighters didn’t knows about it which was good for us. To top things off post event, Jarno and Tim approached me and my team and asked us what they could do better, as they wanted to provide fighter with the best experience possible. I was very impressed by the whole experience.”
In the weeks following his successful debut at light heavyweight the fighter who trains out of Team Titan in London has set his sights on a return to EuroFC and the winner of the fight between Milos Petrasek and the undefeated Laurynas Urbonavicius which takes place at EuroFC 2 next month by taking to twitter to call both of them out.
“I wanted on their [EuroFC’s] next show but things didn’t come together and then I saw two other light heavyweights on a card that I wanted to be on so to be honest it kind of p—ed me off. I don’t have a problem with either of them but like I said in one of my tweets I have no doubt I will smash both of them. If I get to fight the winner of that I fight I know I will get rid of either of them no problem.”
When looking back at a successful stint competing at 265lbs which collimated in him capturing the BAMMA Lonsdale title, Austin despite being comfortable in his new home in the 205 division hasn’t ruled out a return to the heavyweight ranks in the future.
“I’ve been offered quite a few fights at heavyweight which I have turned down while I pursue light heavyweight gold but I think one day I will return as I think there are quite a few guys I match-up well with in the world, not just in the UK. Whether its at heavy or light heavy when I put pressure on these guys and when I’m coming forward I give people absolute nightmares even at heavyweight so I still believe I am still more then capable of competing at heavyweight.”
“But right now my sights are firmly set on hopefully fighting 5-times in 2017 and going undefeated and I am very confident I can do both.”
