Inside the cage things went just about as well as they could have for lightweight prospect Logan Storley. In two bouts he picked up two TKO victories, running his undefeated streak to four.
“This sport is one of those sports that the more comfortable you get, the better you get. I used my wrestling and my hands,” Storley told MMAWeekly.com. “I was happy with those two victories.”
Outside the cage however, Storley had his first setback. A hand injury kept him out of action the second half of the year.
“I had to take care of my hand,” said Storley. “If I don’t take care of it now, three years down the road it’s going to be busted up when it’s a big fight. It sucks, obviously, to not be able to go out and compete, but at the same time I have to take care of my body and make sure its 100-percent.”
Storley’s outlook on taking time to address his hand issues now rather than later comes from an overall mindset that MMA is a marathon rather than a sprint.
“Not many people get into the sport at 22 years old and sprint for 10 years and get to have big money fights at 23,” Storley said. “I knew that going in. It’s not like other sports where you go in and sign a multi-million dollar deal and you get to be in the big leagues.
“I wanted to build my own brand and build myself as a fighter and take it the right way and get better each time I step into the cage.”
Storley (4-0) returns to his home state to take on Andres Murray (1-0) in a main card 155-pound bout at LFA: Sioux Falls Fight Night 1 on Friday in Sioux Falls, S.D., to be streamed live on FloCombat.com.
“At the end of the day I have to use my wrestling, my hands and athleticism,” said Storley. “We’ve got a game plan together to put the pressure on (Murray) and make him feel that wrestling and my hands and power.
“The goal is to just move forward and make him tired, make him work and land those good shots to finish the fight.”
While Storley is looking to take things slowly, he does acknowledge that the time for him to make the move to the biggest stages of MMA might not be that far away.
“Over the next year and year and a half, we’re looking at moving up, and getting ready to go to the UFC or Bellator,” Storley said. “But at this point all I can focus on is Saturday night and taking care of business then, and then we can move on.
“There’s a lot of things that I need to get more experience on, but I want to say within the next year, year and a half, that I want to be fighting in the UFC or Bellator.”
