In the span of just over a year, Terrion Ware has impressed enough in his young career to warrant an opportunity to headline a sizable show, which he will be doing at BAMMA USA: Badbeat 8 in Commerce, Calif., on Friday night.
“I became a pro in June (of last year) and now I’m 5-1, so I accomplished a lot of what I wanted to accomplish with it,” said Ware. “I have three knockouts in the five wins I have and the other three fights were pretty decisive. I think I can do better, because I know I can always do better, but I feel pretty good about them.”
Most recently, Ware took a step forward by avenging his only pro loss when he defeated Paul Amarro at IFS 13 for the promotion’s bantamweight title.
“I ended up rematching against the guy who I had my only pro loss to, so I got that loss back,” said Ware. “I pretty much dominated the fight. It was a great way to start off the year and that’s how I want the rest of my year to go.”
When Ware steps up to the headlining spot this Friday at Badbeat 8, he’ll be facing former UFC fighter Jared Papazian in a bout where he seems to be the underdog, but he doesn’t feel as if he is.
“He has more experience than me in terms of pro fights, but I had 12 amateur fights and six pro fights, so we’re not that far off as far as experience overall,” said Ware of Papazian. “He’s a good striker and is probably going to be a little bit bigger and stronger than me, but my advantage is going to be in speed.
“I think I can out-strike him and out-point him, and as long as I don’t get caught with anything, I think I can out-work him all three rounds and maybe even catch him and finish him.”
Ware doesn’t feel overwhelmed by being the main event of a big show against a well-known opponent. If anything, he’s prepared himself as well mentally as he has physically for the opportunity and plans to use the situation to his benefit.
“I never feel any real pressure because this is what I love to do,” said Ware. “I know any time I go inside the cage I know there’s a chance I could win or lose, so I’ve come to terms with that. I’m motivated because if I win this fight, it pretty much takes my career to where I want to get to.”
Ware told MMAWeekly.com that he knows where he wants to go both in the short term and long term as he continues to expand on his still young career.
“My long term goal is to get to a promotion like the UFC or Bellator, an elite promotion to fight against elite guys,” said Ware. “My short term goal is just to win every fight that’s ahead of me. So my main goal right now is just to win this fight.
“I want to get that exposure fighting higher level competition. I definitely think I’m on that level and that’s the level of competition I’m going to be fighting this moment forward.”
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