Ovince Saint Preux's coach – and Conor McGregor – helping inspire new mental outlook at UFC Fight Night 104

HOUSTON – Ovince Saint Preux’s 2016 was an up and down one. What he learned from the downs, though, may start to take shape this week.

Saint Preux (19-9 MMA, 7-4 UFC) is more than a 3-1 favorite over newcomer Volkan Oezdemir (12-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. Ovince Saint Preux (19-9 MMA, 7-4 UFC) on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 104. Oezdemir took the fight on short notice as a replacement for Jan Blachowicz. But the key for Saint Preux will be to stay mentally focused on the task at hand, regardless of who’s in front of him.

And that will be the opposite of how things were for him in October, when he was knocked out by Jimi Manuwa at UFC 204 in England, which gave him consecutive losses after a decision setback against Jon Jones for the interim light heavyweight title this past April. (Saint Preux broke his arm early in the fight against Jones, but went five rounds anyway.)

“Just to be more mentally prepared for everything – my focus wasn’t all the way on the fight (against Manuwau),” Saint Preux told MMAjunkie today. “It was pretty much my fault – don’t let outside distractions hinder you and just learn how to push that away. I tell people at times, you can be in the best physical shape ever, but if you’re mentally broken, you’re done before you’ve even fought.”

UFC Fight Night 104 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston. The card airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass. Saint Preux and Oezdemir fight on the six-bout FS1 main card.

Saint Preux said some outside-the-cage personal issues were plaguing him the week of the loss to Manuwa in Manchester, though he didn’t elaborate on their genesis. Instead, his coach in Knoxville, Tenn., Eric Turner, has been working with him on the mental side of his game, which includes giving him written homework assignments.

“I never really put anything behind me – there’s always something I can learn,” Saint Preux said. “When I fought Jon, it told me I belong in the top of the division. Even with the loss, it told me what I need to work on. If you have certain outside distractions, if you’re not mentally there, you have to some way learn how to channel that. That’s why my coach Eric is harping on mental skills training. I’m not going to lie: At times, it’s worse than actual physical training. I’d rather physically exhaust myself instead of doing the mental skills training. But the mental skills training, you have to do it because it’s going to make you that much better of a fighter.

“… Everybody’s got their flaws, and as much as you want to, it’s not easy to just go out there and fight. You’ve got to put yourself in a zone. To be honest, you’ve got somebody across the octagon who’s going to try to take your head off. If you’re not there mentally, you’re broken already.”

Saint Preux, who came over from Strikeforce after that promotion’s merger with the UFC, started his tenure in the UFC on a tear. He won his first four fights before Ryan Bader outwrestled him for five rounds in a main event in Maine. But he got back on track with knockouts of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Patrick Cummins.

Then he ran into former title challenger Glover Teixeira and was put to sleep with a rear-naked choke. He rebounded against Rafael Cavalcante, but his losses to Jones and Manuwa give him three setbacks in his past four fights – making a win over Switzerland’s Oezdemir, a two-fight Bellator veteran, of utmost importance.

If he’s able to pull off some new magic thanks to the new emphasis on mental skills, he might also have a UFC champion to thank for some inspiration – not just his coach. Saint Preux said he’s been paying attention to how lightweight champ Conor McGregor can outwork opponents mentally before the fight begins.

“One of the guys that actually does it the best is Conor. It’s Conor,” he said. “You see a lot of guys come in (against him) and they’re beat before they even get in there. But he’s also the type of guy, he knows how to prepare himself mentally. When he does that, you can tell – you see him when he’s training, he’s meditating, or how he’s taking everything in, or how he’s breathing that mentally challenge you.

“You want to be confident within yourself, but you have to be a little cocky, you have to be a little arrogant, you have to be a little conceited because if you’re not, you don’t have the qualities of being confident. I try to be humble at times, and it’s good because I’m more reserved. But I’ve found out I’m better if I have that swag effect, and in order to have that, the cockiness comes out.”

Will he be cocky against Oezdemir? He might be. At the very least, he believes his opponent will remember (eventually) what hit him, even if he doesn’t realize it at the time.

“He’s never fought Ovince Saint Preux before,” he said. “I don’t care who you are, regardless if I get beat, if you fight Ovince Saint Preux, you’re going to remember me. He took the fight at the last minute, and I’ve been getting in shape getting ready for this fight. I feel sharp in every way possible. We’ll see how it goes, but I think it’s going to be a pretty good fight.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 104, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.