To stop being 'nobody,' Dave Huckaba has to beat his boss at WSOF 4

It’s practically the American dream. Dave Huckaba gets to fight his boss … and get paid to do it.

But that’s not what the heavyweight is focusing on when he meets the man who will give him a paycheck this Saturday at World Series of Fighting 4.

Huckaba (20-5) meets WSOF President Ray Sefo (2-1) on the main card. Sefo, a legend in the sport of kickboxing, has fought just three times in MMA and just once in nearly four years.

World Series of Fighting 4, which takes place at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif. The main card, including Huckaba vs. Sefo, airs on NBC Sports Network following prelims that stream online at MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

“It’s huge, actually,” Huckaba told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) about the fight. “It’s a great opportunity for me to fight another standup banger. The (Rolles) Gracie fight was off as the co-main event (at WSOF 3), so it’s awesome Ray stepped up to the plate to fight me.”

Huckaba was to make his WSOF debut at WSOF 3 before Gracie was knocked out with an injury. The next week, Sefo went public with his intention to make another run at MMA – for his own organization. The talk quickly turned to who his opponent would be, with Huckaba’s name thought to be the most likely candidate.

And that’s just how it played out a few days later.

“I can’t look at Ray like a boss at all,” Huckaba said. “This is my first fight with them, so to say Ray is my boss, I never took one minute to look at it like that. We all want to fight someone we’re not supposed to beat. That’s how we make our value go up. In all reality, I’m a nobody fighting a legend like Ray Sefo. I beat Ray, I become someone.”

Huckaba may think of himself as a “nobody,” but if he is, he’s a nobody with 16 knockouts in his 20 wins. He’s been to a bigger stage before, but at Bellator 67 he said he was out of his element in Canada when he dropped a decision to Damian Grabowski.

Since then, he’s won three straight, including a pair of knockouts and a submission from strikes in January over Carter Williams, also a standout kickboxer like Sefo.

Against Sefo, he wants to stand and bang. But he acknowledged that if he gets hit a few times by Sefo, things might change in a hurry.

“Ray, obviously it’s no secret, is phenomenal,” Huckaba said. “His standup and kickboxing is great. But it’s MMA. I have 25 MMA fights, where he has three. It’s a whole different sport. It’s a whole different ballgame.

“I’m a mixed martial artist. If the opportunity is there, it’ll go (to the ground). Everybody has that plan (to stand and trade) till they get punched in the face. I hit him hard, who’s to say he’s not going to try to take me down? I just fought Carter Williams, and he’s a great kickboxer. I hit him hard, and the next thing I knew, he takes me down.”

But let’s be serious. Huckaba, with those 16 knockouts as a heavyweight, certainly doesn’t have designs on taking his boss to the ground and going after some slick bit of jiu-jitsu.

Right?

“Ray Sefo is super tough – he’s not scared to take a punch,” Huckaba said. “Ray’s got a solid chin. You’re not just going to knock him out fast. He’s going to hang in for a battle. I’ve been knocked out one time in 25 fights.

“I’m not too worried about the ground situation. I’m not easily submitted. I’m pretty strong, and I’m well-rounded. But I like to knock people out. I’ve got 15 knockouts in the fist round. I want to give people what they want to see. That’s my style.”

And if that happens, his boss will get a good showing out of him for the NBC Sports Network viewers and the crowd in attendance. But he’ll just have to be on the wrong end of it.

For more on WSOF 4, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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