Video: Jon Tuck believes two hungry fighters to provide 'epic battle'

Jon Tuck‘s UFC career hasn’t gone according to plan thus far, but the lightweight said he’s now fully healed and hungry as ever. With someone just as anxious on the other side of the cage, Tuck is predicting a memorable battle.

“The guy is undefeated that I’m fighting, and I’m just looking forward to it,” Tuck told MMAjunkie. “We’re both hungry, too. I’m coming off a loss. He’s going into a debut, so we’re both going to bring it, and it’s going to be an epic battle.”

Tuck (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) faces undefeated UFC newcomer Jake Lindsey (9-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) on the FOX Sports 1-broadcast preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 42 event at Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, N.M.

For Tuck, it’s an important moment in a career that has stalled since an impressive promotional debut win over Tiequan Zhang in November 2012. Injuries have limited the 29-year-old to just one appearance since then, and Tuck admits he was less than 100 percent during that lone contest, in which he lost a unanimous decision to “TUF: Smashes” winner Norman Parke.

Tuck was supposed to fight Yosdenis Cedeno at this weekend’s event, but “Pink Panther” was forced to withdraw from the bout, and the undefeated Lindsey stepped in to take his place. Lindsey will certainly be gunning for an impressive debut, but Tuck believes it’s finally his time to shine and restart the career that looked so promising nearly two years ago.

“I’m so excited,” Tuck said. “It’s just going to keep getting better for me, and this next fight, it’s a good matchup.”

Check out the full video above.

And for the latest on UFC Fight Night 42, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.