Gokhan Saki: Nobody has the Balls to Stand with Me

After two years of inactivity, kickboxing great Gokhan Saki sees his Ultimate Fighting Championship contract as a “dream come true.”

Considered one of the best kickboxers of his generation, Saki previously came up short when he first tried to transition to mixed martial arts, losing by TKO to James Zikic in 2004. Despite his unsuccessful debut in the sport, the former Glory and K-1 champion is excited to test his skill set in MMA again.

“I like to test myself. I like to prove myself,” Saki said.

“(UFC) is the biggest organization in the world and the most marketable organization in the world. I want to prove myself with the best fighters (in the UFC). That’s why I decided to sign with UFC.”

‘The Turkish Tyson’ isn’t anxious about the challenge that he will face at UFC Rotterdam this September. He sees his ability to read the fight game as one of his best assets and from what he’s seen in the UFC, he believes he is more than equal to the challenge that awaits him in the Octagon.

“Fighting is fighting. If you want to busy yourself thinking about the change too much, it can be too much for the fighter.

“I’m watching all of the fighters, but when I look at what they’re doing I’m thinking, ‘Wow, that’s easy.’ I’m not watching it thinking ‘How the fu-k did he do that?’

“The best thing about my game is my eyes. I’ve always had good eyes. When I fight I see things that other people don’t.”

According to Saki, his ability to absorb information through his eyes is so great that he developed his skillset through watching the great kickboxers as a young teenager.

“I learned to fight from watching videos, brother,” he said.

“When I was 13 years old I was watching all of the great fighters of the time --Rayen Simpson, Ramon Dekker, Hassan Kassrioui, Gilbert Ballantine -- at the time these guys were the No. 1 fighters.

“I took all their best techniques and learned them. That’s why I’m a complete fighter. I trained with my left hand, then I would watch videos and learn how to use my right hand. That was all from videos.

“Now I’m watching the younger fighters in my gym. I learn from them the way I used to learn from the videos.”

The disparity between the striking skillsets of kickboxers and MMA fighters has been highlighted for many years. Yet, Saki believes the striking in MMA has come on leaps and bounds recently, particularly with fighters like Conor McGregor and Jon Jones.

“In the last couple of years, some fighters have really grown with their striking.

“For me, McGregor has some of the best skills. Not only that, he knows how to use his skills. I was talking about having good eyes, yes, McGregor has good eyes too.

“He can read the game. If you can do that you can make your opponent miss and play with them whatever way you want to.

“It’s like chess. In MMA fighting, you have to use this chess game, especially in the striking. You have to make them think they can hurt you, and then punish them when they try to do that. I see this in McGregor’s game.

“I see this in Jones also. He has a lot of tricks. Anthony Johnson has a nice style too.

“I like to go in and finish it when I smell blood. I get aggressive when that happens, but until then, I read the fighter and do what I need to do to find an opening.”

Of course, Saki is expecting his MMA opponents to take him to the ground as quickly as possible given his pedigree.

“I think nobody will fight stand up with me. Nobody has the balls to fight stand up with me. That’s what I think. If someone did want to do that, I would really respect him.

“I don’t think they want to stand up. They want to wrestle. If they want to stand with me, that will be the end of the game (for them).”

While he is eagerly anticipating his debut, he isn’t picky when it comes to who he fights to open his account with the UFC.

“I really don’t care who they give me. I’m a fighter. It’s in UFC’s hands. Whomever they want me to fight, I will fight them.”

Having praised Jones’ skillset, Saki admitted that it would be a “dream” to fight the controversial champion. He also promised that he would be fighting for a UFC title by this time next year.

“I’d love to fight Jones. He’s an ex-UFC champion. It’s a dream to fight him, of course, but like I said, I don’t care who I fight.

“One thing I know for sure is, at this time next year I will fight for the UFC title. That’s my dream. That’s my next step. Now that I’m here I want to fight for that title.”