Can UFC on FOX 28's Ovince Saint Preux break activity record? Does he want to?

ORLANDO – UFC light heavyweight Ovince Saint Preux is on pace to match the promotion record for fights in a calendar year. He could even beat it if he pushes himself.

But can he find enough people willing to fight him?

“You start seeing these guys in front of me, they’re seeing everything that’s happening, but nobody is going to do anything about it,” Saint Preux (22-10 MMA, 10-5 UFC) told MMAjunkie in advance of his FOX-televised fight against Ilir Latifi (13-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) at UFC on FOX 28, which takes place Saturday at Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.

Ovince Saint Preux

Saint Preux already has had some bumps in the road. A fight this past September at UFC Fight Night 117 saw his opponent switched last-minute from ex-champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to Yushin Okami, a career middleweight. The fight with Latifi was rescheduled due to injury.

Currently on a three-fight winning streak, Saint Preux has continued to wow crowds. None of his recent opponents have made it to the scorecards. Two of them tapped to an obscure choke that should be renamed in his honor.

Saint Preux is ranked No. 9 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light heavyweight rankings. In the promotion’s top-15 list, though, he’s No. 5. He’s already fought all but one of those ranked above him.

“Nobody’s going to want to be like, ‘OK, I’ll challenge Ovince,’ he said. “It’s going to be funny trying to get fights after this.”

All of it adds up to potential insecurity if Saint Preux wants to fulfill his goals, which are to stay busy and move up the light-heavy ladder. Breaking the record set by the now-retired Roger Huerta would be nice, but first and foremost he wants regularity in his octagon career.

Earlier in his career, Saint Preux once fought three times in three months under the now-defunct Strikeforce banner. Although that might be a stretch these days, he said a happy medium would benefit him.

“As long as I keep myself active, that’s the biggest thing,” he said. “If I’d fought last month, that would have been three fights in four months. Now, it’s three fights in five months. I tend to have a long layoff and get a little complacent. So I just want to keep myself active.”

That may mean Saint Preux has to accept more fights from lower-ranked fighters, exposing him to more risk as he angles for a title shot. There are plenty of up-and-comers who would like to get a piece of him, and few do much for his resume. He may just have to fight rematches.

Whether that keeps Saint Preux’s interest remains to be seen.

For more on UFC on FOX 28, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.