UFC Fight Night 40's Eddie Wineland: 'You can't tell me I can't fight for the title'

Former WEC champion and onetime UFC bantamweight title challenger Eddie Wineland doesn’t have to tweak too much in preparing for his next fight. The opponent standing across from him might be a different face, but his style is much the same.

“We’ve basically been training for the same fighter for my last three fights,” Wineland (21-9-1 MMA, 3-3 UFC) recently told MMAjunkie Radio.

The full-time firefighter is now in the final days of preparing for Saturday’s meeting at UFC Fight Night 40 with Brazilian Johnny Eduardo (26-9 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who hails from the famed Nova Uniao camp that produced Wineland’s greatest opponent – and most heartbreaking defeat. A title shot at UFC 165 went sideways. After the winning first round, a spinning kick from champ Renan Barao caught him on the chin.

Wineland, 29, rebounded in his most recent appearance with a second-round TKO of striking specialist Yves Jabouin, putting another win on his resume over a high-level striker. But if he’s able to beat Eduardo, he might send another message to fans.

“Call it redemption; call it what it is,” Wineland said. “A win is a win. (I want to) beat somebody from that camp and work my way back up to Barao and eventually beat him.”

UFC Fight Night 40 takes place at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. A welterweight clash between Matt Brown and Erick Silva headlines the show. Main card fights air live on FOX Sports 2 following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. Wineland vs. Eduardo serves on the FOX Sports 2 card.

While Eduardo has 35 professional fights on his resume, he’s only fought twice inside the UFC’s octagon, going 1-1 with a recent win over Jeff Curran. Wineland is on his eighth appearance, and he’s fought a bevy of top-level 135-pounders.

It appears to be just the kind of fight to rebuild the American’s career, though a loss could present a crossroad.

Scouting Eduardo, however, Wineland doesn’t see much difference between his most recent opponents, which undoubtedly bodes well for his prospects in the fight. A sharp boxer with solid wrestling, he’s been able to stand and trade on his feet and take things to the ground when necessary. So far, that’s been a recipe for a long octagon career.

“I can’t think of a boring fight I’ve had, in my opinion,” he said.

“I know Eduardo possess a brown belt in jiu-jitsu,” he added. “He’s long limbed, (and) he likes heel-hooks. Nothing I haven’t trained for and nothing that I haven’t seen. I think it’s going to be a definitive win for me.”

Wineland takes some comfort in the fact that he initially performed well against Barao, but he’s is looking at a long road to a title shot given the ending to the first fight. Rather than try to campaign for a No. 1 contender designation, he wants to give the UFC no choice in awarding him a rematch with the champ.

That’s probably the most sensible approach, as Wineland doesn’t yet command the star power of an ex-champ such as Urijah Faber, who’s gotten three title shots in the UFC.

“At the end of the day, I don’t know if that’s the same blueprint that I’m on,” Wineland said. “But as long as I keep winning, they can’t deny me a title shot. So just keep me fighting, I’ll keep knocking them down, and then you can’t tell me otherwise. You can’t tell me I can’t fight for the title, because I beat everybody else.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 40, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.