Dustin Jacoby (19-9-1 MMA, 7-6-1 UFC) is looking to snap a two-fight skid while handing Vitor Petrino (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) his second loss in a row. The two light heavyweights are set to clash at UFC Tampa, set for Dec. 14 at the Amalie Arena.
Jacoby called the fight with Petrino a “great match-up.”
“I think Vitor Petrino is a young, hungry, up-and-coming guy,” Jacoby told MMASucka. “I think he’s very green. He’s only had 12 professional fights. He shows in his fights that he’s still a little bit green. He’s tough, no doubt about it. He’s durable and a good fighter. He’s just a green fighter. I think my experience and maturity is really going to show in this one.”
Jacoby noted he has lost four of his last five and wants to return to the win column.
“I realize I go out there and put on a good performance every time; I’m not worried about anything,” Jacoby said. “I just have to go out there and win. I have to go out there and hold my spot within division in the ranks and keep him from taking my spot.”
Jacoby currently finds himself outside of the rankings after hanging in the top 15 for a couple of years.
Jacoby believes his path to beating Petrino lies in his “superior striking.” Jacoby holds a slight height advantage while Petrino holds a minuscule reach advantage.
“I still think I use my length a little bit better,” Jacoby said. “I just have to go out there and use my experience. He’s very susceptible to leg kicks. I don’t think he’s going to want to stand much at the beginning anyway, even though I would say he’s more of a striker. But I think that his game plan is going to be trying to take me down like he did with Anthony Smith. I’ve got to be prepared for that. I just have to keep him at bay and slowly work on attacking spots where he may be a little bit weaker.”
Jacoby said he’s “no easy out” and believes the UFC made the match-up to gauge where Petrino is at. Petrino won four UFC fights in a row against Anton Turkalj, Marcin Prachnio, Modestas Bukauskas and Tyson Pedro before being submitted by Smith for his first professional loss.
Smith is a former light heavyweight title challenger and currently ranked No. 12 at 205 pounds.
“They want to see if Vitor is ready for that next level,” Jacoby said. “He goes in there and gets submitted in the first round by Anthony [Smith] in the top-10. OK, let’s drop it down a level and see if he’s ready to take the next leap. It’s my job to go in there and show the UFC that I’m keeping my position and that he’s going to have to wait another day.”
Jacoby said his four of five losses skid has been “very frustrating.” It started after a controversial loss to Khalil Rountree Jr., the most recent man to fight Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight title. Rountree Jr. saw early success before Pereira stormed back for the TKO in the fourth round.
“That Khalil Rountree fight was just complete bullshit and took a lot of wind out of the sails and took a lot of steam out of the engine,” Jacoby said. “Not just for me, but for the team, my family and friends. For everybody. Now everybody sees that and watches [Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree] and saying, ‘Dude, this should be you.’ It is what it is. The decision happened. I of course had a rough stretch after that. I lose my first fight after that. This game is so mental. If you have one tiny chink in your armor, it can go the other way really fast. Unfortunately, it’s gone that way for me. It hasn’t been for a lack of effort. It hasn’t been for performance. It’s just one of those things where I’ve come up on the short end a couple of times. Unfortunately, that’s the way the cookie crumbles, man. All I can do is put my head down, continue grinding, continue evolving, and continue getting better. Hopefully, I can still see light at the end of the tunnel, go in there, have a good performance against Vitor Petrino, get my hands raised again and move onto the next.”
Jacoby said “the UFC knows” he did not lose to Rountree Jr. Jacoby said he knows his recent losses could have just as easily gone his way and took solace in his performances.
“The Azamat Murzakanov fight, he got me early, but if there were a couple more rounds, I finish that fight extremely strong. I felt like the winner after that one. Even though I do understand I lost that fight, physically looking at him and looking at me, you can tell that if there were a couple of more rounds, who knows if he would have been able to answer the bell? The Alonzo Menifield fight, gosh, I had that fight won. If I had stalled and let off the gas in the third round and been a boring fighter, I probably would’ve won that fight. Instead, I continued going, foot on the pedal, and got caught. These fights have been close.
“Of course, the Dominick Reyes fight; he’s still one of the best guys in the division and I just got caught that night. I still feel good about where I’m at, man. I always bring the fight.”
Jacoby gave his prediction for how his fight with Petrino will end.
“I think that I end up taking Vitor Petrino to the deep waters,” “The Hanyak” said. “I certainly see my hands getting raised. I don’t have a definitive prediction, whether it be by decision or whether it be by knockout. I’m very capable of catching this guy early, and I’m very capable of catching this guy late. I’m just going to put everything I have into training, man, and make sure that at the end of that night on Dec. 14, it’s my hands that are getting raised, it’s my family that’s getting fed, and moving onto bigger and better things.”
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