Grappling Ace Robert Drysdale Glad He Got Dinged While Winning Legacy FC Title

Looking back on his second round submission victory over Ryan Spann on July 22 for Legacy FC, newly-crowned promotional light-heavyweight champion Robert Drysdale knows where he made mistakes in the fight, but nonetheless is pleased that he was able to pick up the win.

“I feel I was a little too eager to finish, and missed some submissions I should have hit,” Drysdale told MMAWeekly.com. “I’ll give (Spann) credit, he had good defense and he came ready.

“Those are submissions I would never miss in practice. They were slipping. I didn’t feel great physically. But I still go the win.”

Unlike previous fights where Drysdale had gotten early first round finishes, he was pushed a bit more by Spann, and is glad to have gotten that experience.

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“Nothing’s perfect, you’re going to make mistakes, and believe it or not, I’m glad I got hit a little bit,” said Drysdale. “In my other fights, I didn’t take any damage. I was hanging in there and not backing down after getting hit.

“I’ve always known that I had that, but I hadn’t done it in a fight. It was nice to be able to stay in there, get hit and still fight, and have more of a scrap rather than just a quick submission.”

Having been two years since his previous MMA fight at The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale, Drysdale feels his game has grown as he has become more acclimated to the sport.

“I think my wrestling has definitely gotten better; my clinching game and wall wrestling; that’s probably what’s progressed the most,” he said.

“I think my Jiu-Jitsu has become more adapted to MMA. that’s something I’ve put a lot of time into, just becoming less sports Jiu-Jitsu oriented and more MMA oriented, and discovered a lot of tricks to make Jiu-Jitsu more efficient to MMA.”

Having finished all seven of his wins (with one No Contest) and now holding a Legacy FC championship, a lot could be in the cards for Drysdale’s MMA career. For now, however, he’s going to take things one day at a time and approach opportunities as they come.

“I’m a live-in-the-moment kind of guy,” said Drysdale. “If you’re living too far ahead, you forget about the moment.

“For me to take time off from my family, my students, my seminars, my gym, and focus on a fight, it has to make sense. A lot of personal decisions that have to be made before having a two or three month camp for a fight, but I’m open. We’ll talk to some organizations and see what happens.”

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