EXCLUSIVE | Alex Caceres didn’t know who Artem Lobov was before UFC 223 bout offer

On the undercard of the upcoming UFC 223 card, TUF veteran Alex Caceres will collide with Artem Lobov. Though Lobov has become quite well-known, thanks largely to his association with Conor McGregor, Caceres says he didn’t know he was before the bout was offered to him. Then again, he rarely knows who his opponents are before they’re offered to him.

“My initial reaction was to find out who Artem was, and then just be excited as I am with every fight,” Caceres said on the latest stacked episode of BJ Penn Radio. “I’m unfamiliar with most fighters, I don’t watch the sport at all. So I really don’t keep up with this stuff. I find out about them once they sign the papers.”

Once he’d done some research on Lobov, Caceres began to feel that he matches up very well with the Russian-born Irishman.

“I think my style will match up really well against him,” he said. “He’s a strong, he’s a tough guy, and he has a hard punch, but I think I might be just a little bit too rangy and quick on my feet. So, I think for me this is a great match-up.”

While Caceres likes the way he matches up with Lobov, however, it doesn’t sound like he’ll be preparing much of a game plan. That’s just not his style.

“To be honest I don’t even know sometimes what the fuck I’m gonna do so, I doubt my opponent will either,” he said. “I just have like I guess, generalized concepts of how I want to be in fights. I just perceive, [in] this fight, I would like to utilize my length, and my speed and agility as much as possible in this fight. So all the moves that will come out of me naturally. [I will] orbit around that concept of being agile, being long, being loose and just quick.”

“It’s more like I’m preparing myself just for the world as a student of life,” Caceres continued. ‘I just want to be as versatile as possible. I wanna keep being able to grow and keep flowing on, so I try not to limit myself. I try not to think about winning or losing too much. Instead I’d rather just have that great performance. I wanna know that every time I got in there, I’ve gotten a little bit better. Every time I stepped inside that cage. So for me it’s more of a personal journey of self-growth.”

“At the end of the day, it’s not about [Lobov], It’s not about the UFC, it’s not about the fight. It’s about just growing as a person. Just finding and expressing myself completely and wholeheartedly.”

Do you think Alex Caceres can take out Artem Lobov at UFC 223?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/29/2018.