Vicente Luque's answer to UFC 205 short-notice call? 'Hell, yeah!'

NEW YORK – Vicente Luque’s already-pretty-great year got even better after a special call last month.

Fresh off his brutal knockout win over Hector Urbina at Sept. 24’s UFC Fight Night 97 event, Luque (10-5-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) got the offer to face Belal Muhammad (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) at Saturday’s monster UFC 205 card after original opponent Lyman Good was suspended due to a potential anti-doping violation.

The welterweight’s answer to the last-minute invite?

“My reaction was, ‘Hell yeah! Let’s fight,’” Luque told MMAjunkie. “Everybody wants to be in this card. Every fighter in the UFC wants to be in this card. It’s going to be, if not the biggest card in history, definitely the biggest card of 2016.

“I’m just so honored to be fighting here. New York, Madison Square Garden. So many legends fought here, so I mean, it’s great.”

The 170-pound scrap is part of Saturday’s FS1-televised preliminary-card portion. It airs before the pay-per-view main card and after early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

A New Jersey-born fighter who moved to the Brazilian capital of Brasilia at age 6, Luque has been on quite a roll. After suffering a loss to fellow “The Ultimate Fighter 21” alumn Michael Graves on the show’s live finale in his official UFC debut, he’s rebounded with a three-fight, three-finish streak.

Although originally a striker, Luque has been known to put his jiu-jitsu brown belt to use, and he’s won two of his four UFC scraps via submission. Of his 10 career wins, nine were finishes. His opponent, in turn, comes off a finish of his own – a late TKO win over Augusto Montano at UFC Fight Night 94.

Luque respects Muhammad’s record – including a “Fight of the Night” loss to Alan Jouban that he really sees “like a win.”  But, as respectful as he is of his opponent’s skills, Luque still said his well-rounded offensive arsenal should be enough to grant him the win.

“He’s a good opponent,” Luque said. “But I have what it takes to beat him. He’s a guy that likes to pressure standup, and if he feels the need, he’ll come with his wrestling and try to take me down. I’m a striker. That’s what I’m going to go out there to do.

“I’m going to look for the striking, moving a lot and keeping the pressure in and out, in and out. If he tries to take me down, my game on the ground is really strong. I have a lot of submissions, so I’m pretty confident. I might put that into play as well.

“I’m going to look for the win by finish at all rounds and, if he can take everything I can bring to the fight. I’m going to be ready for three rounds, as well.“

For more on Luque’s thoughts, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC 205, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.