After 'emotional rollercoaster' of scrapped UFC 216 bout, Mark Godbeer happy it led to MSG

NEW YORK – Mark Godbeer’s UFC road took a few interesting turns recently. But, considering where it’s gotten him, the heavyweight isn’t complaining.

Godbeer was supposed to have met Walt Harris at last month’s UFC 216. On the day of the fight, though, Fabricio Werdum lost his opponent in Derrick Lewis. While Harris can’t really be blamed for his decision to take the pay-per-view main card spot – against a former UFC champion, no less – that meant Godbeer was out.

Godbeer must have earned some karma points, because it didn’t take long for him to be relocated. Only this time, he’d get to perform at New York City’s iconic Madison Square Garden. Sure, the moving around took some sacrifices; not only were vacation plans canceled, but he had to essentially add a month to his camp.

“Massive emotional rollercoaster” aside, though, it seems Godbeer got the better end of the deal.

“MSG – says it all, don’t it?” Godbeer told MMAjunkie during a media day. “So it’s worth that whole ride.

“(…) A huge moment. Every great at the top of their games in combat sports has fought here. It’s an honor to fight at MSG.”

Stretching his camp took a few adjustments, considering fighters train to be at peak condition at a certain point in time. But, after taking a few days to rest before returning to full-on training, a more relaxed Godbeer thinks the change ultimate made him better prepared both physically and mentally.

Not to mention the heavyweight didn’t even need to worry about studying a new opponent. After getting tapped out by Werdum in 65 seconds at their UFC 216 encounter, Harris (10-6 MMA, 3-5 UFC) was re-booked against Godbeer (12-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC). The two meet on the FS1-televised prelims.

Come Saturday night, Godbeer plans on being in Harris’ face and to “let him know he’s in a fight.” But before that, he clarifies there are no hard feelings toward Harris stemming from their scrapped UFC 216 appointment.

After going through “every emotion the human body can feel” in one night, Godbeer understood where both the promotion and Harris were coming from when they decided to re-arrange the card.

“It was a tough pill to swallow at the time,” Godbeer said. “But I sort of knew the UFC had to make a decision, and I respect the decision they made. As soon as they announced that Walt had stepped up to fight Werdum, I walked over to Walt’s changing room, I shook his hand. I said, ‘Look, I would have done the same.’

“Fair play. This is what we’re all here for. We’re trying to work our way up the ladder. We’re trying to get that top spot. If someone offers you a chance to jump from here to here, we’re going to do it.”

To hear from Godbeer, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC 217, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.