Leonard Garcia Ready to Get Back in the Winner’s Bracket at UFC on FX 3

After coming off a Fight of the Night loss to Nam Phan at UFC 136, winning has become a priority for Texan Leonard Garcia, who is attempting to lift himself out of his two-fight losing streak when he faces Matt Grice on Friday night, in Sunrise, Fla., as part of the UFC on FX 3 preliminary bouts that air live on Fuel TV.

“Two losses in a row is something I’ve never had to deal with,” Garcia said on Wednesday. “Every time that I lost something, I was able to find my way back and win. Having two losses in a row was hard to swallow and I don’t want it to happen again.

“If you’re not winning then why do you want to be here?” Garcia questioned. “The fans love it, I love the fans, and I’m always here to give them a show. But at the end of the day, you want to be in the winning bracket.”

Garcia’s opponent on Friday night, Matt Grice, is 1-5 in the UFC and in his second stint with the promotion the 30-year-old father of two will be looking to avoid back to back losses for the second time in his career. A good run of form on Oklahoma’s domestic shows led Grice to his second bite of the apple with the UFC.

“Both of our backs are against the wall on Friday,” Garcia told reporters. “We both have to go for it and we have 15 minutes to prove which one of us belongs. Put me in a bad situation and I always come out on top. I’ve proven that time and time again.”

Garcia may promise a victory on Friday night, but he isn’t certain that it will be a technical performance.

“I can’t promise that I’m going to be more technical, that is something that happens when I’m hitting the pads. When it’s game time I always tend to cut loose.”