12 days to eight weeks: Colton Smith backed by first full camp at UFC Fight Night 44

Colton Smith had just 12 real days of training for his most recent fight, a second-round submission loss to Michael Chiesa at UFC Fight Night 31.

As an active member of the United States Army, Smith only gets a minimal amount of time to travel to New Mexico to put in full-time MMA training at the Jackson-Winkeljohn school. Still, though, Smith has made it this far.

He’s a winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” has three UFC fights under his belt, and is just days away from headlining the FOX Sports 1-televised portion of the UFC Fight Night 44 preliminary card.

“It’s been pretty difficult up until this point making sure that I’m training at the level that I’m competing at, which I wasn’t for a long time,” Smith told MMAjunkie. “I won ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ pretty much on raw talent and tenacity and kept coming forward in my fights.”

Even though he’s made it to the UFC level on essentially natural talent alone, Smith’s brief run inside the octagon hasn’t panned out as planned. He’s lost two of his three UFC appearances and has been stopped inside the distance in both of those defeats.

Smith hasn’t looked bad in the UFC, but even in his lone victory, he hasn’t looked spectacular, either. The 26-year-old held his own for the first round against Chiesa this past November, but eventually his lack of conditioning faltered and he was submitted in the second frame.

It has been hard for Smith to juggle his career in the military and his career as a fighter. Other than his six weeks on “TUF,” he has never had a full training camp – until now.

“This is the first time I’ve had a full eight weeks – last time I got 12 days,” Smith said. “I had a whole training camp for the first time, a whole training camp at Jackson’s. I left my chain of command. They have supported me through that, and I was able to take some leave and come out to Jackson’s. I’m here now doing a full eight-week training camp with the best coaches in the world, and they’ve really opened up my mixed martial arts game. I’m excited to step in the cage and showcase that.”

With the support of his first full training camp, Smith says the difference in his preparation is dramatic. Before, his training was primarily focused on conditioning and strategy because there was little time to develop his skills. This time, though, he has the chance to evolve physically and mentally.

“It’s just an overall confidence booster,” Smith said. “Putting everything together, listening to Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn, Brandon Gibson and Tim Ferris. Them telling what I did good and bad and what I need. I’ve never really had that, so it’s pretty amazing to have all my coaches telling me how far I’ve come along and how receptive I am to the knowledge they’re giving me. Same with my teammates who are out here really pushing me and help me become a true veteran of the sport.”

Smith says the Army has shown him tremendous support since his MMA career began. However, as someone who has every intention of remaining as an active duty candidate until he retires, it’s necessary to keep that side of his life as the top priority.

That’s the main reason he would only have small windows available for full MMA training. But for this camp, he took an extended leave of absence, a decision that dramatically shifted his ability to prepare for his fight.

“On the base, we train soldiers, and I’m a combative instructor right now. But that’s life and death stuff, that’s not sport stuff like mixed martial arts,” Smith said. “Missions come first, soldiers come first, then MMA was a pretty distant second. Now it’s just changed, and the Army has been very supportive of me. I took a personal leave for this fight.”

To this point in his career, Smith has found a majority of his success through his grappling. But after putting a considerable amount of time into striking training with Winkeljohn, he says his skills on the feet have developed at a surprising pace.

Smith’s progress with one full camp raises questions about how far he could go if he dedicated more time toward the craft. His military duties will prevent him from ever being a truly full-time fighter, but he says this camp has opened the door for taking more leaves from the Army in the future.

“It’s definitely possible,” Smith said of future eight-week camps. “We’re taking it fight-by-fight with the military and with the UFC. (My goal is) just to get that ‘W’ and keep driving on. It’s pretty simple. I know my capabilities now more than ever. I think I’m at a point now where I’m definitely training at the level I’m fighting at and it’s time for me to shine.”

If Smith has turned a corner in skill, it couldn’t come at a better time. He’s suffered back-to-back losses since winning a six-figure UFC contract at the TUF 16 Finale and could get his walking papers with another poor showing.

Being on the verge of a UFC release is a nerve-racking proposition for any fighter, but according to Smith, he doesn’t feel any extra added weight to perform.

“There’s no pressure,” Smith said. “To be honest with you, this is probably the least amount of pressure I’ve felt leading into a fight. I’ve had the best-case scenario. I had a full training camp, great coaches, I’m injury-free for the first time in a long time.

“It’s just amazing the backing I have with the military and my family at Jackson’s and my family at home. No pressure, honestly I feel amazing and I’m really excited to go out there and showcase some of my skills.”

Judging by Smith’s (3-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) demeanor, he couldn’t be in a better place as he enters the most significant contest of his career against Carlos Diego Ferreira (9-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 44 this Saturday from San Antonio’s AT&T Center. The main card airs on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Ferreira is an undefeated fighter from Brazil who will be making his UFC debut against Smith. Even though he has less than 10 professional fights to his name, the 29-year-old has already found success in MMA by winning the Legacy FC lightweight championship this past year.

Despite the fact no one has been able to top Ferreira in MMA competition, Smith doesn’t appear entirely impressed by his upcoming foe. In fact, he believes his opponent has several flaws in his game, and after training for eight weeks to expose those flaws, Smith expects his best UFC performance to date.

“Carlos Diego Ferriera is a pretty formidable opponent – he’s in the UFC for a reason,” Smith said. “But he has a lot of holes in his game, and luckily I have the master at game planning with me at Jackson’s. He has a lot of weaknesses, I’ll say that.

“Hopefully he underestimates me and I can go in there and knock his block off or take him down and submit him and send him back to Legacy or wherever he came from.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 44, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.